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THE 



LADY OF THE LAKE 

% Poem in %ix Cantos 



BY 



SIR WALTER SCOTT, Bart. 



WITH NOTES AND AN APPENDIX 



FROM THE LATEST EDINBURGH EDITION 



NEW YORK: 46 East i 4 th Street 
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO, 

BOSTON ; 100 Purchase Street 



Copyright, 

1883, 1888, 1891, and 1892, 

By T. Y. CROWELL & CO. 



TO THE MOST NOBLE 

JOHN JAMES 
MARQUIS OF ABERCORN 

ETC., ETC., ETC. 

THIS POEM IS INSCRIBED 

BY 

THE AUTHOR 



- 



WZ 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION 


. . i 


THE LADY OF THE LAKE : 




Canto I. — The Chase . • 


• 15 


II. — The Island 


• 54 


III. — The Gathering 


• 97 


IV. — The Prophecy 


. • 138 


V. — The Combat . 


. . 178 


VI. — The Guard-room . 


. 224 


APPENDIX ...... 


. 267 



INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Edition 1830. 



After the success of " Marmion," I felt inclined 
to exclaim with Ulysses in the " Odyssey" 

Ovtos ntv 5tj &ed\os ddaros iKTeriXea-Tai. 

NOv adre GKoirbv &\\ov. Odys. % 5» 6. 

" One venturous game my hand has won to-day — 
Another, gallants, yet remains to play." 

The ancient manners, the habits and costumes of 
the aboriginal race by whom the Highlands of Scot- 
land were inhabited, had always appeared to me 
peculiarly adapted to poetry. The change in their 
manners, too, had taken place almost within my own 
time, or at least I had learned many particulars con- 
cerning the ancient state of the Highlands from the 
old men of the last generation. I had always thought 
the old Scottish Gael highly adapted for poetical 
composition. The feuds and political dissensions, 
which half a century earlier would have rendered the 
richer and wealthier part of the kingdom indisposed 
to countenance a poem, the scene of which was laid 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

in the Highlands, were now sunk in the generous 
compassion which the English, more than any other 
nation, feel for the misfortunes of an honorable foe. 
The Poems of Ossian had, by their popularity, suffi- 
ciently shown that if writings on Highland subjects 
were qualified to interest the reader, mere national 
prejudices were in the present day very unlikely to 
interfere with their success. 

I had also read a great deal, seen much, and heard 
more of that romantic country, where I was in the 
habit of spending some time every autumn ; and the 
scenery of Loch Katrine was connected with the rec- 
ollection of many a dear friend and merry expedition 
of former days. This poem, the action of which lay 
among scenes so beautiful, and so deeply imprinted 
on my recollections, was a labor of love ; and it was 
no less so to recall the manners and incidents intro- 
duced. The frequent custom of James IV., and par- 
ticularly of James V., to walk through their kingdom 
in disguise, afforded me the hint of an incident, 
which never fails to be interesting if managed with 
the slightest address or dexterity. 

I may now confess, however, that the employment, 
though attended with great pleasure, was not without 
its doubts and anxieties. A lady, to whom I was 
nearly related, and with whom I lived, during her 
whole life, on the most brotherly terms of affection, 
was residing with me at the time when the work was 
in progress, and used to ask me what I could possibly 
do to rise so early in the morning (that happening to 
be the most convenient time to me for composition) . 
At last I told her the subject of my meditations ; and 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

I can never forget the anxiety and affection expressed 
in her reply. " Do not be so rash, 1 ' she said, " my 
dearest cousin. 1 You are already popular — more so, 
perhaps, than you yourself will believe, or than even 
I, or other partial friends, can fairly allow to your 
merit. You stand high — do not rashly attempt to 
climb higher, and incur the risk of a fall ; for, depend 
upon it, a favorite will not be permitted even to 
stumble with impunity. 11 I replied to this affection- 
ate expostulation in the words of Montrose — 

" He either fears his fate too much, 
Or his deserts are small, 
Who dares not put it to the touch 
To gain or lose it all." 

" If I fail," I said, for the dialogue is strong in my 
recollection, " it is a sign that I ought never to have 
succeeded, and I will write prose for life : you shall 
see no change in my temper, nor will I eat a single 
meal the worse. But if I succeed, — 

" Up with the bonnie blue bonnet, 

The dirk, and the feather, and a' ! " 

Afterwards I showed my affectionate and anxious 
critic the first canto of the poem, which reconciled 
her to my imprudence. Nevertheless, although I 

1 The lady with whom Sir Walter Scott held this conversa- 
tion, was, no doubt, his aunt, Miss Christian Rutherford ; there 
was no other female relation dead when this Introduction was 
written, whom I can suppose him to have consulted on liter- 
ary questions. Lady Capulet, on seeing the corpse of Tybalt, 
exclaims — 

" Tybalt, my cousin ! oh my brother's child ! " — Ed. 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

answered thus confidently, with the obstinacy often 
said to be proper to those who bear my surname, I 
acknowledge that my confidence was considerably 
shaken by the warning of her excellent taste and 
unbiassed friendship. Nor was I much comforted 
by her retractation of the unfavorable judgment, when 
I recollected how likely a natural partiality was to 
effect that change of opinion. In such cases, affec- 
tion rises like a light on the canvas, improves any 
favorable tints which it formerly exhibited, and 
throws its defects into the shade. 

I remember that about the same time a friend 
started in to " heeze up my hope," like the " sports- 
man with his cutty-gun,' 1 in the old song. He was 
bred a farmer, but a man of powerful understanding, 
natural good taste, and warm poetical feeling, per- 
fectly competent to supply the wants of an imperfect 
or irregular education. He was a passionate admirer 
of field-sports, which we often pursued together. 

As this friend happened to dine with me at Ashes- 
teil one day, I took the opportunity of reading to him 
the first canto of " The Lady of the Lake," in order 
to ascertain the effect the poem was likely to produce 
upon a person who was but too favorable a represen- 
tative of readers at large. It is, of course, to be sup- 
posed, that I determined rather to guide my opinion 
by what my friend might appear to feel than by what 
he might think fit to say. His reception of my 
recitation, or prelection, was rather singular. He 
placed his hand across his brow and listened with 
great attention through the whole account of the 
stag-hunt, till the dogs threw themselves into the 



INTR OD UC TION. 5 

lake to follow their master, who embarks with Ellen 
Douglass. He then started up with a sudden excla- 
mation, struck his hand on the table, and declared, 
in a voice of censure calculated for the occasion, that 
the dogs must have been totally ruined by being 
permitted to take the water after such a severe chase. 
I own I was much encouraged by the species of 
reverie which had possessed so zealous a follower of 
the sports of the ancient Nimrod, who had been 
completely surprised out of all doubts of the reality 
of the tale. Another of his remarks gave me less 
pleasure. He detected the identity of the King with 
the wandering knight, Fitz-James, when he winds 
his bugle to summon his attendants. He was prob- 
ably thinking of the lively, but somewhat licentious, 
old ballad, in which the denouement of a royal 
intrigue takes place as follows : — 

" He took a bugle frae his side, 

He blew both loud and shrill, 
And four-and-twenty belted knights 

Came skipping ower the hill ; 
Then he took out a little knife, 

Let a' his duddies fa', 
And he was the brawest gentleman 

That was amang them a'. 

And we'll go no more a-roving," etc. 

This discovery, as Mr. Pepys says of the rent in his 
camlet cloak, was but a trifle, yet it troubled me ; and 
I was at a good deal of pains to efface any marks by 
which I thought my secret could be traced before the 
conclusion, when I relied on it with the same hope of 
producing effect, with which the Irish post-boy is 
said to reserve a " trot for the avenue." 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

I took uncommon pains to verify the accuracy of 
the local circumstances of this story. I recollect, in 
particular, that to ascertain whether I was telling a 
probable tale, I went into Perthshire, to see whether 
King James could actually have ridden from the 
banks of Loch Vennachar to Sterling Castle within 
the time supposed in the Poem, and had the pleasure 
to satisfy myself that it was quite practicable. 

After a considerable delay, " The Lady of the 
Lake " appeared in June, 1810; and its success was 
certainly so extraordinary as to induce me for the 
moment to conclude that I had at last fixed a nail in 
the proverbially inconsistent wheel of Fortune, whose 
stability in behalf of an individual who had so boldly 
courted her favor for three successive times had not 
as yet been shaken. I had attained, perhaps, that 
degree of public reputation at which prudence, or 
certainly timidity, would have made a halt, and dis- 
continued efforts by which I was far more likely to 
diminish my fame than to increase it. But as the 
celebrated John Wilkes is said to have explained to 
his late Majesty, that he himself, amid his full tide 
of popularity, was never a Wilkite, so I can, with 
honest truth, exculpate myself from having been at 
any time a partisan of my own poetry, even when it 
was in the highest fashion with the million. It must 
not be supposed, that I was either so ungrateful, or 
so superabundantly candid, as to despise or scorn the 
value of those whose voice had elevated me so much 
higher than my own opinion told me I deserved. I 
felt, on the contrary, the more grateful to the public, 
as receiving that from partiality to me, which I could 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

not have claimed from merit ; and I endeavored to 
deserve the partiality, by continuing such exertions 
as I was capable of for their amusement. 

It may be that I did not, in this continued course 
of scribbling, consult either the interest of the public 
or my own. But the former had effectual means of 
defending themselves, and could, by their coldness, 
sufficiently check any approach to intrusion ; and for 
myself, I had now for several years dedicated my 
hours so much to literary labor, that I should have 
felt difficulty in employing myself otherwise ; and so, 
like Dogberry, I generously bestowed all my tedious- 
ness on the public, comforting myself with the re- 
flection, that if posterity should think me undeserving 
of the favor with which I was regarded by my con- 
temporaries, "they could but say I had the crown, 11 
and had enjoyed for a time that popularity which is 
so much coveted. 

I conceived, however, that I held the distinguished 
situation I had obtained, however unworthily, rather 
like the champion of pugilism, 1 on the condition of 
being always ready to show proofs of my skill, than 
in the manner of the champion of chivalry, who per- 
forms his duties only on rare and solemn occasions. 
I was in any case conscious that I could not long 
hold a situation which the caprice, rather than the 
judgment, of the public, had bestowed upon me, and 

" In twice five years the ' greatest living poet,' 
Like to the champion in the fistv ring, 
Is called on to support his claim, or show it, 
Although 'tis an imaginary thing," etc. 

Don Juan, canto xi. st. 55. 



8 INTR OD UC TION. 

preferred being deprived of my precedence by some 
more worthy rival, to sinking into contempt for 
my indolence, and losing my reputation by what 
Scottish lawyers call the negative prescription. Ac- 
cordingly, those who choose to look at the Introduc- 
tion to Rokeby, in the present edition, will be able 
to trace the steps by which I decline as a poet to fig- 
ure as a novelist ; as the ballad says, Queen Eleanor 
sunk at Charing-Cross to rise again at Queenhithe. 

It only remains for me to say, that, during my 
short pre-eminence of popularity, I faithfully observed 
the rules of moderation which I had resolved to fol- 
low before I began my course as a man of letters. If 
a man is determined to make a noise in the world, 
he is as sure to encounter abuse and ridicule, as he 
who gallops furiously through a village must reckon 
on being followed by the curs in full cry. Experi- 
enced persons know, that in stretching to flog the 
latter, the rider is very apt to catch a bad fall ; nor is 
an attempt to chastise a malignant critic attended 
with less danger to the author. On this principle, I 
let parody, burlesque, and squibs find their own level ; 
and while the latter hissed most fiercely, I was 
cautious never to catch them up, as school-boys do, 
to throw them back against the naughty boy who fired 
them off, wisely remembering that they are, in such 
cases, apt to explode in the handling. Let me add, 
that my reign 1 (since Byron has so called it) was 
marked by some instances of good-nature as well as 
patience. I never refused a literary person of merit 

l " Sir Walter reign'd before," etc. 

Don Juan, canto xi. st. 57. 



INTR OD UC TION. 9 

such services in smoothing his way to the public as 
were in my power ; and I had the advantage, rather 
an uncommon one with our irritable race, to enjoy 
general favor, without incurring permanent ill-will, 
so far as is known to me, among any of my contem- 
poraries. 

W. S. 

ABBOTSFORD, April (1830). 



THE 

LADY OF THE LAKE. 

A POEM 
IN SIX CANTOS. 



ARGUMENT. 

The Scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in 
the vicinity of Loch Katrine, in the Western High- 
lands of Perthshire. The time of action includes six 
days, and the transactions of each day occupy a 
Canto. 1 

1 " Never, we think, has the analogy between poetry and 
painting been more strikingly exemplified than in the writ- 
ings of Mr. Scott. He sees everything with a painter's eye. 
Whatever he represents has a character of individuality, and 
is drawn with an accuracy and minuteness of discrimination 
which we are not accustomed to expect from verbal descrip- 
tion. Much of this, no doubt, is the result of genius ; for there 
is a quick and comprehensive power of discernment, an 
intensity and keenness of observation, an almost intuitive 
glance which nature alone can give, and by means of which 
her favorites are enabled to discover characteristic differences 
where the eye of dulness sees nothing but uniformity; but 
something also must be referred to discipline and exercise. 
The liveliest fancy can only call forth those images which are 
already stored up in the memory ; and all that invention can 
do is to unite these into new combinations, which must appear 
confused and ill-defined, if the impressions originally received 
by the senses were deficient in strength and distinctness. It 
is because Mr. Scott usually delineates those objects with 
which he is perfectly familiar that his touch is so easy, correct, 
and animated. The rocks, the ravines, and the torrents, which 
he exhibits, are no* the imperfect sketches of a hurried traveller, 
but the finished studies of a resident artist, deliberately drawn 
from different points of view ; each has its true shape and 
position ; it is a portrait ; it has its name by which the spec- 
tator is invited to examine the exactness of the resemblance. 

13 



14 ARGUMENT. 

The figures which are combined with the landscape are 
painted with the same fidelity. Like those of Salvator Rosa, 
they are perfectly appropriate to the spot on which they stand. 
The boldness of feature, the lightness and compactness of 
form, the wildness of air, and the careless ease of attitude of 
these mountaineers, are as congenial to their native highlands 
as the birch and the pine which darken their glens, the sedge 
which fringes their lakes, or the heath which waves over their 
moors." — Quarterly Review, May, 1810. 

" It is honorable to Mr. Scott's genius that he has been able 
to interest the public so deeply with this third presentment of 
the same chivalrous scenes ; but we cannot help thinking that 
both his glory and our gratification would have been greater 
if he had changed his hand more completely, and actually 
given us a true Celtic story, with all its drapery and accom- 
paniments in a corresponding style of decoration. Such a 
subject, we are persuaded, has very great capabilities, and 
only wants to be introduced to public notice by such a hand 
as Mr. Scott's to make a still more powerful impression than 
he has already effected by the resurrection of the tales of 
romance. There are few persons, we believe, of any degree 
of poetical susceptibility, who have wandered among the 
secluded valleys of the Highlands, and contemplated the sin- 
gular people by whom they are still tenanted — with their love 
of music and of song — their hardy and irregular life, so unlike 
the unvarying toils of the Saxon mechanic — their devotion to 
their chiefs — their wild and lofty traditions — their national 
enthusiasm — the melancholy grandeur of the scenes they 
inhabit — and the multiplied superstitions which still linger 
among them — without feeling that there is no existing people 
so well adapted for the purposes of poetry, or so capable of 
furnishing the occasions of new and striking inventions. 

" We are persuaded that if Mr. Scott's powerful and 
creative genius were to be turned in good earnest to such a 
subject, something might be produced still more impressive 
and original than even this age has yet witnessed." — JEF- 
FREY, Edinburgh Review, No. xvi., for 1810. 



THE 

LADY OF THE LAKE. 



CANTO FIRST. 

S%c CJase. 

Harp of the North ! that mouldering long hast hung 
On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring, 

And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung, 1 
Till envious ivy did around thee cling, 

Muffling with verdant ringlet every string, — 

minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep? 
Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring, 

Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep, 
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep? 

Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon, 

Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd, 

When lay of hopeless love, or glory won, 
Aroused the fearful, or subdued the proud. 

At each according pause, was heard aloud 2 

1 MS. : " And vn the fitful breeze thy numbers flung, 

Till envious ivy, with her verdant ring, 
Mantled and muffled each melodious string, — 
O Wizard Harp, still must thine accents sleep? " 

2 MS. : " At each according pause thou spokest aloud 

Thine ardent sympathy." 

15 



1 6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

Thine ardent symphony sublime and high ! 
Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bow'd 

For still the burden of thy minstrelsy 
Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and Beauty's 
matchless eye. 

O wake once more ! how rude soe'er the hand 

That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray ; 
O wake once more ! though scarce my skill command 

Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay : 
Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away, 

And all unworthy of thy nobler strain, 
Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway, 

The wizard note has not been touch'd in vain. 
Then silent be no more ! Enchantress, wake again ! 



The stag at eve had drunk his fill, 

Where danced the moon on Monan's rill, 

And deep his midnight lair had made 

In lone Glenartney's hazel shade ; 

But, when the sun his beacon red 

Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head, 

The deep-mouth'd bloodhound's heavy bay 

Resounded up the rocky way, 1 

And faint, from farther distance borne, 

Were heard the clanging hoof and horn. 

1 MS. : " The bloodhound's notes of heavy bass, 
Resounded hoarsely up the pass." 



canto I.] THE CHASE. 17 

II. 
As Chief who hears his warder call, 
" To arms ! the foemen storm the wall," 
The antler'd monarch of the waste 
Sprung from his heathery couch in haste. 
But, ere his fleet career he took, 
The dewdrops from his flanks he shook ; 
Like crested leader proud and high, 
Toss'd his beam'd frontlet to the sky ; 
A moment gazed adown the dale, 
A moment snuffd the tainted gale, 
A moment listen^ to the cry, 
That thicken'd as the chase drew nigh ; 
Then, as the headmost foes appeard, 
With one brave bound the copse he clear'd, 
And, stretching forward free and far, 
Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var. 1 

in. 

Yeird on the view the opening pack ; 
Rock, glen, and cavern, paid them back ; 
To many a mingled sound at once 
The awaken'd mountain gave response, 

1 Ua-var, as the name is pronounced, or more properly 
Uaighmor, is a mountain to the northeast of the village of 
Callender in Menteith, deriving its name, which signifies the 
great den or cavern, from a sort of retreat among the rocks on 
the south side, said, by tradition, to have been the abode of a 
giant. In latter times it was the refuge of robbers and ban- 
ditti, who have been only extirpated within these forty or fifty 
years. Strictly speaking, this stronghold is not a cave, as the 
name would imply, but a sort of small enclosure, or recess, 



1 8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto 

A hundred dogs bay'd deep and strong, 
Clatter'd a hundred steeds along, 
Their peal the merry horns rung out, 
A hundred voices join'd the shout ; 
With hark and whoop and wild halloo, 
No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew. 1 
Far from the tumult fled the roe, 
Close in her covert cower'd the doe, 
The falcon, from her cairn on high, 
Cast on the rout a wondering eye, 
Till far beyond her piercing ken 
The hurricane had swept the glen. 
Faint, and more faint, its failing din 
Return 1 d from cavern, cliff, and linn, 
And silence settled, wide and still, 
On the lone wood and mighty hill. 



IV. 

Less loud the sounds of sylvan war 
Disturb'd the heights of Uam-Var, 
And roused the cavern, where, 'tis told, 
A giant made his den of old ; 

surrounded with large rocks, and open above head. It may 
have been originally designed as a toil for deer, who might get 
in from the outside, but would find it difficult to return. This 
opinion prevails among the old sportsmen and deer-stalkers 
in the neighborhood. 

1 Benvoirlich, a mountain comprehended in the cluster of 
the Grampians, at the head of the valley of the Garry, a river 
which springs from its base. It rises to an elevation of three 
thousand three hundred and thirty feet above the level of 
the sea. 




r . : 



The noble stag was pausing now 
Upon the mountain's southern brow 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 

For ere that steep ascent was won, 
High in his pathway hung the sun, 
And many a gallant, stayed perforce, 
Was fain to breathe his faltering horse, 
And of the trackers of the deer, 
Scarce half the lessening pack was near ; 
So shrewdly on the mountain side 
Had the bold burst their mettle tried. 



The noble stag was pausing now, 
Upon the mountain's southern brow, 
Where broad extended, far beneath, 
The varied realms of fair Menteith, 
With anxious eye he wander'd o'er 
Mountain and meadow, moss and moor, 
And ponder'd refuge from his toil, 
By far Lochard 1 or Aberfoyle. 

1 " About a mile to the westward of the inn of Aberfoyle, 
Lochard opens to the view. A few hundred yards to the east 
of it, the Avendow, which had just issued from the lake, tum- 
bles its waters over a rugged precipice of more than thirty feet 
in height, forming, in the rainy season, several very magnifi- 
cent cataracts. 

" The first opening of the lower lake, from the east, is 
uncommonly picturesque. Directing the eye nearly westward, 
Benlomond raises its pyramidal mass in the background. In 
nearer prospect, you have gentle eminences, covered with oak 
and birch to the very summit ; the bare rock sometimes peep- 
ing through amongst the clumps. Immediately under the eye, 
tin- lower lake, stretching out from narrow beginnings to a 
breadth of about half a mile, is seen in full prospect. On the 



THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

But nearer was the copsewood gray, 
That waved and wept on Loch Achray, 
And mingled with the pine-trees blue 
On the bold cliffs of Benvenue. 



right, the banks are skirted with extensive oak woods, which 
cover the mountain more than halfway up. 

" Advancing to the westward, the view of the lake is lost for 
about a mile. The upper lake, which is by far the most exten- 
sive, is separated from the lower by a stream of about two 
hundred yards in length. The most advantageous view of the 
upper lake presents itself from a rising ground near its lower 
extremity, where a footpath strikes off to the south, in the 
wood that overhangs this connecting stream. Looking west- 
ward, Benlomond is seen in the background, rising, at the 
distance of six miles, in the form of a regular cone, its sides 
presenting a gentle slope to the northwest and southeast. On 
the right is the lofty mountain of Benoghrie, running west 
towards the deep vale in which Lochcon lies concealed from 
the eye. In the foreground, Lochard stretches out to the west 
in fairest prospect; its length three miles, and its breadth a 
mile and a half. On the right it is skirted with woods ; the 
northern and western extremity of the lake is diversified with 
meadows, and cornfields, and farm-houses. On the left, few 
marks of cultivation are to be seen. 

" Farther on, the traveller passes along the verge of the lake 
under a ledge of rock, from thirty to fifty feet high ; and, stand- 
ing immediately under this rock, towards its western extremity, 
he has a double echo of uncommon distinctness. Upon pro- 
nouncing, with a firm voice, a line of ten syllables, it is 
returned, first from the opposite side of the lake; and when 
that is finished, it is repeated with equal distinctness from the 
wood on the east. The day must be perfectly calm, and the 
lake as smooth as glass, for otherwise no human voice can be 
returned from a distance of at least a quarter of a mile." — 
Graham's Sketches of Perthshire, 2d edit. p. 182, etc. 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 21 

Fresh vigor with the hope return'd, 1 
With flying foot the heath he spurn'd, 
Held westward with unwearied race, 
And left behind the panting chase. 

VI. 

'Twere long to tell what steeds gave o'er, 
As swept the hunt through Cambusmore ; 2 
What reins were tighten'd in despair, 
When rose Benledi's ridge in air ; 3 
Who flagged upon Bochastle's heath, 
Who shunn'd to stem the flooded Teith — 4 
For twice that day, from shore to shore, 
The gallant stag swam stoutly o'er. 
Few were the stragglers, following far, 
That reached the lake of Vennachar ; 5 

!MS. : " Fresh vigor with the thought return'd, 
With flying hoof the heath he spurn'd." 

2 Cambusmore, within about two miles of Callender, on the 
wooded banks of the Keltie, a tributary of the Teith, is the seat 
of a family of the name of Buchanan, whom the poet frequently 
visited in his younger days. 

3 Benledi is a magnificent mountain, three thousand and 
nine feet in height, which bounds the horizon on the northwest 
from Callender. The name, according to Celtic etymologists, 
signifies the Mountain of God. 

4 Two mountain streams — the one flowing from Loch 
Voil, by the pass of Leny ; the other from Loch Katrine, by 
Loch Achray and Loch Vennachar, unite at Callender : and 
the river thus formed thenceforth takes the name of Teith. 
Hence the designation of the territory of Menteith. 

5" Loch Vennachar, a beautiful expanse of water, of about 
five miles in length, by a mile and a half in breadth." — 
Graham. 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto I. 

And when the Bfigg of Turk was won, 1 
The headmost horseman rode alone. 



Alone, but with unbated zeal, 
That horseman plied the scourge and steel ; 
For jaded now, and spent with toil, 
Emboss'd with foam, and dark with soil, 
While every gasp with sobs he drew, 
The laboring stag strain'd full in view. 
Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed, 
Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed, 2 

1 " About a mile above Loch Vennachar, the approach (from 
the east) , to the Brigg or Bridge of Turk (the scene of the 
death of a wild-boar, famous in Celtic tradition), leads to the 
summit of an eminence, where there bursts upon the travel- 
ler's eye a sudden and wide prospect of the windings of the 
river that issues from Loch Achray, with that sweet lake itself 
in front ; the gently rolling river pursues its serpentine course 
through an extensive meadow; at the west end of the lake on 
the side of Aberfoyle is situated the delightful farm of Achray, 
the level field, a denomination justly due to it, when consid- 
ered in contrast with the rugged rocks and mountains which 
surround it. From this eminence are to be seen also, on the 
right hand, the entrance to Glenfinlas, and in the distance 
Benvenue." — Graham. 

2 " The hounds which we call Saint Hubert's hounds are 
commonly all blacke, yet, neuertheless, the race is so mingled 
at these days, that we find them of all colours. These are the 
hounds which the abbots of St. Hubert haue always kept 
some of their race or kind in honour or remembrance of the 
saint, which was a hunter with S. Eustace. Whereupon we 
may conceiue that (by the grace of God) all good huntsmen 
shall follow them into paradise. To return vnto my former 



canto I.] THE CHASE. 23 

Fast on his flying traces came, 

And all but won that desperate game ; 

For, scarce a spear's length from his haunch 

Vindictive toil'd the bloodhounds stanch ; 

Nor nearer might the dogs attain, 

Nor farther might the quarry strain, 

Thus up the margin of the lake, 

Between the precipice and brake, 

O'er stock and rock their race they take. 

VIII. 

The Hunter mark'd that mountain high, 
The lone lake's western boundary, 
And deenfd the Stag must turn to bay, 
Where that huge rampart barrd the way ; 

purpose, this kind of dogges hath bene dispersed through the 
counties of Henault, Loryne, Flanders, and Burgoyne. They 
are mighty of body, neuertheless their legges are low and 
short, likewise they are not swift, although they be very good 
of sent, hunting chaces which are farre straggled, fearing 
neither water nor cold, and doe more couet the chaces that 
smell, as foxes, bore, and such like, than other, because they 
find themselves neither of swiftness nor courage to hunt and 
kill the chaces that are lighter and swifter. The bloodhounds 
of this colour proue good, especially those that are cole blacke, 
but I made no great account to breed on them, or to keepe 
the kind, and yet I found a book which a hunter did dedicate 
to a prince of Lorayne, which seemed to loue hunting much, 
wherein was a blason which the same hunter gaue to his 
bloodhound, called Souvllard, which was white: — 

" My name came first from holy Hubert's race, 
Souyllard my sire, a hound of singular grace." 

Whereupon we may presume that some of the kind proue 
white sometimes, but they are not of the kind of the Grefhers 



24 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

Already glorying in the prize, 
Measured his antlers with his eyes ; 
For the death-wound and death-halloo, 
Muster'd his breath, and whinyard drew ; 1 — 

or Bouxes, which we haue at these days." — The noble art of 
Venerie or Hunting, translated and collected for the Use of all 
Noble??ien and Gentlemen. Lond. 1611, 4to, p. 15. 

1 When the stag turned to bay, the ancient hunter had the 
perilous task of going in upon and killing or disabling the 
desperate animal. At certain times of the year this was held 
particularly dangerous, a wound received from a stag's horn 
being then deemed poisonous, and more dangerous than one 
from the tusk of a boar, as the old rhyme testifies : — 

" If thou be hurt with hart, it brings thee to thy bier, 
But barber's hand will boar's hurt heal, therefore thou need'st not 
fear." 

At all times, however, the task was dangerous, and to be 
adventured upon wisely and warily, either by getting behind 
the stag while he was gazing on the hounds, or by watching 
an opportunity to gallop roundly in upon him, and kill him 
with the sword. See many directions to this purpose in 
the Booke of Hunting, chap. 41. Wilson, the historian, 
has recorded a most providential escape which befell him 
in this hazardous sport, while a youth and follower of the Earl 
of Essex. 

" Sir Peter Lee, of Lime, in Cheshire, invited my lord one 
summer to hunt the stagg. And having a great stagg in chace, 
and many gentlemen in the pursuit, the stagg took soyle. 
And divers, whereof I was one, alighted, and stood with 
swords drawne, to have a cut at him at his coming out of the 
water. The staggs there being wonderfully fierce and dan- 
gerous, made us youths more eager to be at him. But he 
escaped us all. And it was my misfortune to be hindered of 
my coming nere him, the way being sliperie, by a falle ; which 
gave occasion to some, who did not know mee, to speak as 
if I had fallne for feare. Which being told mee, I left the 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 25 

But thundering as he came prepared, 

With ready arm and weapon bared, 

The wily quarry shunn'd the shock, 

And turn'd him from the opposing rock ; 

Then, dashing down a darksome glen, 

Soon lost to hound and hunter's ken, 

In the deep Trosachs' 1 wildest nook 

His solitary refuge took. 

There, while close couch'd, the thicket shed 

Cold dews and wild-flowers on his head, 

He heard the baffled dogs in vain 

Rave through the hollow pass amain, 

Chiding the rocks that yelFd again. 

IX. 

Close on the hounds the Hunter came, 
To cheer them on the vanished game ; 

stagg, and followed the gentleman who [first] spake it. But I 
found him of that cold temper, that it seems his words made 
an escape from him ; as by his denial and repentance it 
appeared. But this made mee more violent in the pursuit 
of the stagg, to recover my reputation. And I happened to 
be the only horseman in, when the dogs sett him up at bay ; 
and approaching near him on horsebacke, he broke through 
the dogs, and run at mee, and tore my horse's side with his 
homes close by my thigh. Then I quitted my horse, and 
grew more cunning (for the dogs had sette him up again), 
stealing behind him with my sword, and cut his hamstrings; 
and then got upon his back and cut his throate : which, as I 
was doing, the company came in, and blamed my rashness for 
running such a hazard." — PKCK'S Disiderata Curiosa, ii. 464. 
1 " The term Trosachs signifies the rough or bristled terri- 
tory." —GRAHAM. 



26 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

But stumbling in the rugged dell, 
The gallant horse exhausted fell. 
The impatient rider strove in vain 
To rouse him with the spur and rein, 
For the good steed, his labors o'er, 
Stretch'd his stiff limbs, to rise no more ; 
Then, touch'd with pity and remorse, 
He sorrow'd o'er the expiring horse. 
" I little thought, when first thy rein 
I slack'd upon the banks of Seine, 
That Highland eagle e'er should feed 
On thy fleet limbs, my matchless steed ! 
Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, 
That costs thy life, my gallant gray ! " 

x. 

Then through the dell his horn resounds, 
From vain pursuit to call the hounds. 
Back limp'd, with slow and crippled pace, 
The sulky leaders of the chase ; 
Close to their master's side they press'd, 
With drooping tail, and humbled crest ; 
But still the dingle's hollow throat 
Prolong'd the swelling bugle-note. 
The owlets started from their dream, 
The eagles answer'd with their scream, 
Round and around the sounds were cast, 
Till echo seem'd an answering blast ; 
And on the Hunter hied his way, 1 
To join some comrades of the day ; 

MS. : " And on the hunter hied his pace, 

To meet some comrades of the chase" 



canto I.] THE CHASE. 27 

Yet often paused, so strange the road, 
So wondrous were the scenes it showed. 



The western waves of ebbing day 
Roird o'er the glen their level way ; 
Each purple peak, each flinty spire, 
Was bathed in floods of living fire. 
But not a setting beam could glow 
Within the dark ravines below, 
Where twined the path in shadow hid, 
Round many a rocky pyramid. 
Shooting abruptly from the dell 
Its thunder-splinter 1 d pinnacle ; 
Round many an insulated mass, 
The native bulwarks of the pass, 1 
Huge as the tower which builders vain 
Presumptuous piled on Shinar's plain. 2 
The rocky summits, split and rent, 
Fornrfd turret, dome, or battlement, 
Or seenfd fantastically set 
With cupola or minaret, 
Wild crests as pagod ever deck'd, 
Or mosque of Eastern architect. 
Nor were these earth-born castles bare, 3 
Nor lack"d they many a banner fair; 
For, from their shiver'd brows displayed, 
Far, o'er the unfathomable glade, 

1 MS. : " The mimic castles of the pass." 

2 The Tower of Babel. — Genesis xi. 1-9. 

3 MS. : " Nor were these mighty bulwarks bare. 



28 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto I. 

All twinkling with the dew-drop sheen, 1 
The brier-rose fell in streamers green, 
And creeping shrubs, of thousand dyes, 
Waved in the west-wind's summer sighs. 



XII. 

Boon nature scatter'd free and wild, 
Each plant of flower, the mountain's child. 
Here eglantine embalm'd the air, 
Hawthorn and hazel mingled there ; 
The primrose pale and violet flower, 
Found in each clift a narrow bower ; 
Fox-glove and night-shade, side by side, 
Emblems of punishment and pride, 
Group'd their dark hues with every stain 
The weather-beaten crags retain. 
With boughs that quaked at every breath, 
Gray birch and aspen wept beneath ; 
Aloft, the ash and warrior oak 
Cast anchor in the rifted rock ; 
And, higher yet, the pine-tree hung 
His shatter'd trunk, and frequent flung, 2 
Where seem'd the cliffs to meet on high, 
His boughs athwart the narrow'd sky. 
Highest of all, where white peaks glanced, 
Where glisfning streamers waved and danced, 

1 MS. : " Bright glistening- with the dew-drops sheen." 

2 MS. : " His scathed trunk, and frequent flung, 

Where seem'd the cliffs to meet on high, 
His rugged arms athwart the sky. 
Highest of all, where white peaks glanced, 
Where hvinkling streamers waved and danced.' 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 29 

The wanderer's eye could barely view 
The summer heaven's delicious blue ; 
So wondrous wild, the whole might seem 
The scenery of a fairy dream. 



XIII. 

Onward, amid the copse 'gan peep 
A narrow inlet, still and deep, 
Affording scarce such breadth of brim, 1 
As served the wild duck's brood to swim. 
Lost for a space, through thickets veering, 
But broader when again appearing, 
Tall rocks and tufted knolls their face 
Could on the dark-blue mirror trace ; 
And farther as the hunter stray 'd, 
Still broader sweep its channels made. 
The shaggy mounds no longer stood, 
Emerging from entangled wood,' 2 
But, wave-encircled, seem'd to float, 
Like castle girdled with its moat ; 
Yet broader floods extending still 
Divide them from their parent hill, 
Till each, retiring, claims to be 
An islet in an inland sea. 



And now, to issue from the glen, 

No pathway meets the wanderer's ken, 

1 MS. : " Affording scarce such breadth of flood, 

As( served to float the wild-duck's brood. 

2 MS. : " Emerging dry-shod from the wood." 



30 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

Unless he climb, with footing nice, 

A far projecting precipice. 1 

The broom's tough roots his ladder made, 

The hazel saplings lent their aid ; 

And thus an airy point he won, 

Where, gleaming with the setting sun, 

One burnish'd sheet of living gold, 

Loch Katrine lay beneath him roll'd, 2 

In all her length far winding lay, 

With promontory, creek, and bay, 

And islands that, empurpled bright, 

Floated amid the livelier light, 

And mountains, that like giants stand, 

To sentinel enchanted land. 

High on the south, huge Benvenue 3 

Down on the lake in masses threw 

Crags, knolls, and mounds, confusedly hurl'd, 

The fragments of an earlier world ; 

A wildering forest feather'd o'er 

His ruin'd sides and summit hoar, 4 

1 Until the present road was made through the romantic 
pass which I have presumptuously attempted to describe in 
the preceding stanzas, there was no mode of issuing out of the 
defile called the Trosachs excepting by a sort of ladder, com- 
posed of the branches and roots of trees. 

2 Loch-Ketturin is the Celtic pronunciation. In his Notes to 
" The Fair Maid of Perth," the author has signified his belief 
that the lake was named after the Catterans, or wild robbers, 
who haunted its shores. 

3 Benvenue — is literally the little mountain — i.e., as con- 
trasted with Benledi and Benlomond. 

4 MS. : " His ruined sides and fragments hoar 

While on the north to middle air." 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 31 

While on the north, through middle air, 
Ben-an x heaved high his forehead bare. 2 



xv. 

From the steep promontory gazed 3 
The stranger, raptured and amazed. 
And, " What a scene were here," he cried, 
" For princely pomp, or churchman's pride ! 
On this bold brow, a lordly tower ; 
In that soft vale, a lady's bower; 
On yonder meadow, far away, 
The turrets of a cloister gray ; 
How blithely might the bugle-horn 
Chide, on the lake, the lingering morn ! 
How sweet, at eve, the lover's lute 
Chime, when the groves were still and mute ! 
And, when the midnight moon should lave 
Her forehead in the silver wave, 

1 According to Graham, Ben-an, or Bennan, is a mere 
diminutive of Ben — Mountain. 

2 Perhaps the art of landscape-painting in poetry has never 
been displayed in higher perfection than in these stanzas, to 
which rigid criticism might possibly object that the picture is 
somewhat too minute, and that the contemplation of it detains 
the traveller somewhat too long from the main purpose of his 
pilgrimage, but which it would be an act of the greatest injus- 
tice to break into fragments, and present by piecemeal. Not 
so the magnificent scene which bursts upon the bewildered 
hunter as he emerges at length from the dell, and commands 
at one view the beautiful expanse of Loch Katrine." — Criti- 
cal Review, August, 1820. 

3 MS. : " From the high promontory gazed 

The stranger, awe-struck and amazed." 



32 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto I. 

How solemn on the ear would come 
The holy matins' distant hum, 
While the deep peal's commanding tone 
Should wake, in yonder islet lone, 
A sainted hermit from his cell, 
To drop a bead with every knell — 
And bugle, lute, and bell, and all, 
Should each bewilder'd stranger call 
To friendly feast and lighted hall. 1 



XVI. 

" Blithe were it then to wander here ! ' 
But now, — beshrew yon nimble deer, — 
Like that same hermit's, thin and spare, 
The copse must give my evening fare ; 
Some mossy bank my couch must be, 
Some rustling oak my canopy. 2 
Yet pass we that ; the war and chase 
Give little choice of resting-place ; — 
A summer night, in greenwood spent, 
Were but to-morrow's merriment : 
But hosts may in these wilds abound, 
Such as are better missed than found ; 
To meet with Highland plunderers here, 
Were worse than loss of steed or deer. — 3 



1 MS. : " To hospitable feast and hall." 

2 MS. : " And hollow trunk of some old tree, 

My chamber for the night must be." 

3 The clans who inhabited the romantic regions in the 
neighborhood of Loch Katrine, were, even until a late period, 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 33 

I am alone ; — my bugle-strain 
May call some straggler of the train 
Or, fall the worst that may betide, 
Ere now this falchion has been tried." 



XVII. 

But scarce again his horn he wound, 1 
When lo ! forth starting at the sound, 
From underneath an aged oak, 
That slanted from the islet rock, 



much addicted to predatory excursions upon their Lowland 
neighbors. "In former times, those parts of this district, 
which are situated beyond the Grampian range, were ren- 
dered almost inaccessible by strong barriers of rocks, and 
mountains, and lakes. It was a border country, and though 
on the very verge of the low country, it was almost totally 
sequestered from the world, and, as it were, insulated with 
respect to society, 'Tis well known that in the Highlands it 
was, in former times, accounted not only lawful, but honorable, 
among hostile tribes, to commit depredations on one another-, 
and these habits of the age were perhaps strengthened in this 
district by the circumstances which have been mentioned. It 
bordered on a country, the inhabitants of which, while they 
were richer, were less warlike than they, and widely differ- 
enced by language and manners." — Graham's Sketches 
of Scenery in Perthshire, Edin. 1806, p. 97. The reader will 
therefore be pleased to remember, that the scene of this poem 
is laid in a time, — 

" When tooming faulds or sweeping of a glen, 
Had still been held the deed of gallant men." 

1 MS. : " The bugle shrill again he wound, 

And lo! forth starting at the sound." 



34 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

A damsel guider of its way, 

A little skiff shot to the bay, 1 

That round the promontory steep 

Led its deep line in graceful sweep, 

Eddying, in almost viewless wave, 

The weeping willow twig to lave, 

And kiss, with whispering sound and slow, 

The beach of pebbles bright as snow. 

The boat had touclvd this silver strand, 

Just as the Hunter left his stand, 

And stood conceal'd amid the brake, 

To view this Lady of the Lake. 

The maiden paused, as if again 

She thought to catch the distant strain. 

With head up-raised, and look intent, 

And eye and ear attentive bent, 

And locks flung back, and lips apart, 

Like monument of Grecian art, 

In listening mood, she seem'd to stand 

The guardian Naiad of the strand. 

XVIII. 

And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace 2 
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace, 
Of finer form, or lovelier face ! 

i MS. : "A little skiff shot to the bay, 

The Hunter left his airy stand, 
And when the boat had touch'd the sand, 
Conceal'd he stood amid the brake, 
To view this Lady of the Lake." 

2 MS. : " A finer form, a fairer face, 

Had never marble Nymph or Grace, 
That boasts the Grecian chisel's trace." 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 

What though the sun with ardent frown, 
Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown, - 
The sportive toil, which, short and light, 
Had dyed her glowing hue so bright, 
Served too in hastier swell to show 
Short glimpses of a breast of snow : 
What though no rule of courtly grace 

To measured mood had train'd her pace, 

A foot more light, a step more true, 
Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew : 
E'en the slight harebell raised its head, 
Elastic from her airy tread : 
What though upon her speech there hung 
The accents of the mountain tongue, 1 
Those silver sounds, so soft, so clear, 
The list'ner held his breath to hear ! 



xrx. 

A Chieftain's daughter seem'd the maid ; 
Her satin snood, 2 her silken plaid, 
Her golden brooch, such birth betray'd. 
And seldom was a snood amid 
Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid, 
Whose glossy black to shame might brim 
The plumage of the raven's wing ; 
And seldom o'er a breast so fair, 
Mantled a plaid with modest care, 
And never brooch the folds combined 
Above a heart more good and kind. 



35 



1 MS. : " The accents of a stranger tong_ 

2 See Note post, on Canto III. stanza 5. 



lie. 



36 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

Her kindness and her worth to spy, 
You need but gaze on Ellen's eye : 
Not Katrine, in her mirror blue, 
Gives back the shaggy banks more true, 
Than every free-born glance confess'd 
The guileless movements of her breast ; 
Whether joy danced in her dark eye, 
Or woe or pity clainVd a sigh, 
Or filial love was glowing there, 
Or meek devotion poured a prayer, 
Or tale of injury called forth 
The indignant spirit of the North. 
One only passion unreveaPd, 
With maiden pride the maid conceal'd, 
Yet not less purely felt the flame ; — 
O need I tell that passion's name ! 



XX. 

Impatient of the silent horn, 

Now on the gale her voice was borne : — 

" Father ! " she cried ; the rocks around 

Loved to prolong the gentle sound. 

A while she paused, no answer came, 1 

" Malcolm, was thine the blast? " the name 

1 MS. : " A space she paused, no answer came, — 
' Alpine, was thine the blast ? ' the name 
Less resolutely utter'd fell, 
The echoes could not catch the swell. 
• Nor foe nor friend,' the stranger said, 
Advancing from the hazel shade. 
Tke startled maid, with hasty oar, 
Push'd her light shallop from the shore." 



canto I.] THE CHASE. 37 

Less resolutely utter'd fell, 
The echoes could not catch the swell. 
" A stranger I," the Huntsman said, 
Advancing from the hazel shade. 
The maid, alarmed, with hasty oar 
Pushed her light shallop from the shore, 
And when a space was gained between, 
Closer she drew her bosom's screen ; 
( So forth the startled swan would swing, 1 
So turn to prune his ruffled wing), 
Then safe, though flutter'd and amazed, 
She paused, and on the stranger gazed. 
Not his the form, nor his the eye, 
That youthful maidens wont to fly. 



XXI. 

On his bold visage middle age 
Had slightly press'd its signet sage, 
Yet had not quench'd the open truth 
And fiery vehemence of youth ; 
Forward and frolic glee was there, 
The will to do, the soul to dare, 
The sparkling glance, soon blown to fire, 
Of hasty love, or headlong ire. 
His limbs were cast in manly mould, 
For hardy sports or contest bold ; 
And though in peaceful garb array'd, 
And weaponless, except his blade, 

1 MS. : " So o'er the lake the swan would spring, 
Then turn to prune its ruffled wing." 



38 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto I. 

His stately mien as well implied 

A high-born heart, a martial pride, 

As if a Baron's crest he wore, 

And sheathed in armor trode the shore, 

Slighting the petty need he show'd 

He told of his benighted road ; 

His ready speech flowM fair and free, 

In phrase of gentlest courtesy ; 

Yet seem'd that tone, and gesture bland, 

Less used to sue than to command. 



XXII. 

A while the maid the stranger eyed, 
And, reassured, at length replied, 
That Highland halls were open still 1 
To wilder'd wanderers of the hill. 
"Nor think you unexpected come 
To yon lone isle, or desert home ; 
Before the heath had lost the dew, 
This morn, a couch was pulPd for you ; 
On yonder mountain's purple head 
Have ptarmigan and heath-cock bled, 
And our broad nets have swept the mere, 
To furnish forth your evening cheer." 
" Now, by the rood, my lovely maid, 
Your courtesy has err'd, 11 he said ; 
" No right have I to claim, misplaced, 
The welcome of expected guest. 
A wanderer here by fortune tost, 
My way, my friends, my courser lost, 

1 MS. : " Her fathers' hall was open still." 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 39 

I ne'er before, believe me, fair, 
Have ever drawn your mountain air, 
Till on this lake's romantic strand, 1 
I found a fay in fairy land ! " 



*' I well believe," the maid replied, 

As her light skiff approached the side, — 

" I well believe that ne'er before 

Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's shore ; 

But yet, as far as yesternight, 

Old Allan-Bane foretold your plight, — 

A gray-hair'd sire, whose eye intent 

Was on the visioned future bent. 2 

He saw your steed, a dappled gray, 

Lie dead beneath the birchen way ; 

Painted exact your form and mien, 

Your hunting-suit of Lincoln green, 

That tassell*d horn so gayly gilt, 

That falchion's crooked blade and hilt, 

That cap with heron plumage trim, 

And yon two hounds so dark and grim. 

He bade that all should ready be, 

To grace a guest of fair degree ; 

But light I held his prophecy, 

And deem'd it was my father's horn, 

Whose echoes o'er the lake were borne." 



1 MS. : " Till on the lake's enchanting strand." 

2 MS. : " Is often on the future bent." 

See Appendix, Note A. 



4° THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 



The stranger smiled ; " Since to your home 

A destined errant-knight I come, 

Announced by prophet sooth and old, 

Doom'd, doubtless, for achievement bold, 

I'll lightly front each high emprise, 

For one kind glance of those bright eyes. 

Permit me, first, the task to guide 

Your fairy frigate o'er the tide." 

The maid, with smile suppress'd and sly, 

The toil unwonted saw him try ; 

For seldom sure, if e'er before, 

His noble hand had grasp'd an oar ; x 

Yet with main strength his strokes he drew, 

AndVer the lake the shallop flew ; 

With heads erect, and whimpering cry, 

The hounds behind their passage ply. 

Nor frequent does the bright oar break 

The dark'ning mirror of the lake, 

Until the rocky isle they reach, 

And moor their shallop on the beach. 

XXV. 

The stranger viewed the shore around ; 
'Twas all so close with copsewood bound. 
Nor track nor pathway might declare 
That human foot frequented there, 
Until the mountain-maiden show'd 
A clambering unsuspected road, 

1 MS. : " This gentle hand had grasped an oar ; 

Yet with main strength the oars he drew. 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 4* 

That winded through the tangled screen, 
And operfd on a narrow green, 
Where weeping birch and willow round 
With their long fibres swept the ground. 
Here, for retreat in dangerous hour, 
Some chief had framed a rustic bower. 1 



It was a lodge of ample size, 

But strange of structure and device ; 

Of such materials as around 

The workman's hand had readiest found. 



1 The Celtic chieftains, whose lives were continually exposed 
to peril, had usually in the most retired spot of their domains, 
some place of retreat for the hour of necessity, which, as cir- 
cumstances would admit, was a tower, a cavern, or a rustic 
hut, in a strong and secluded situation. One of these last gave 
refuge to the unfortunate Charles Edward, in his perilous 
wanderings after the battle of Culloden. 

" It was situated in the face of a very rough, high, and 
rocky mountain, called Letternilichk, still a part of Benalder, 
full of great stones and crevices, and some scattered wood 
interspersed. The habitation called the Cage, in the face of 
that mountain, was within a small thick bush of wood. There 
were first some rows of trees laid down, in order to level the 
floor for a habitation ; and as the place was steep, this raised 
the lower side to an equal height with the other; and these 
trees, in the way of joists or planks, were levelled with earth 
and gravel. There were betwixt the trees growing naturally 
on their own roots, some stakes fixed in the earth, which, with 
the trees, were interwoven with ropes, made of heath and birch 
twigs, up to the top of the Cage, it being of a round or rather 
oval shape ; and the whole thatched and covered over with 



42 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

Lopp'd of their boughs, their hoar trunks bared, 

And by the hatchet rudely squared, 

To give the walls their destined height, 

The sturdy oak and ash unite ; 

While moss and clay and leaves combined 

To fence each crevice from the wind. 

The lighter pine-trees, overhead, 

Their slender length for rafters spread, 

And wither'd heath and rushes dry 

Supplied a russet canopy. 

Due westward, fronting to the green, 

A rural portico was seen, 

Aloft on native pillars borne, 

Of mountain fir with bark unshorn, 

Where Ellen's hand had taught to twine 

The ivy and Idasan vine, 

The clematis, the favor'd flower 

Which boasts the name of virgin-bower, 

And every hardy plant could bear 

Loch Katrine's keen and searching air. 

An instant in this porch she stayed, 

And gayly to the stranger said, 



fog. The whole fabric hung, as it were, by a large tree, which 
reclined from the one end, all along the roof, to the other, and 
which gave it the name of the Cage ; and by chance there hap- 
pened to be two stones at a small distance from one another, 
in the side next the precipice, resembling the pillars of a 
chimney, where the fire was placed. The smoke had its vent 
out here, all along the fall of the rock, which was so much of 
the same colour that one could discover no difference in the 
clearest day." — HOME'S History of the Rebellioti. Lond., 
1802, 4to, p. 381. 



canto I.] THE CHASE. 43 

" On heaven and on thy lady call, 
And enter the enchanted hall ! " 



XXVII. 

" My hope, my heaven, my trust must be, 

My gentle guide, in following thee." 

He cross 'd the threshold — and a clang 

Of angry steel that instant rang. 

To his bold brow his spirit rush'd, 

But soon for vain alarm he blush'd, 

When on the floor he saw displayed, 

Cause of the din, a naked blade 

Dropp'd from the sheath, that careless flung 

Upon a stag's huge antlers swung ; 

For all around, the walls to grace, 

Hung trophies of the fight or chase ; 

A target there, a bugle here, 

A battle-axe, a hunting spear, 

And broadswords, bows, and arrows store, 

With the tusk'd trophies of the boar. 

Here grins the wolf as when he died, 1 

And there the wild-cat's brindled hide 

The frontlet of the elk adorns, 

Or mantles o'er the bison's horns ; 

Pennons and flags defaced and stain'd, 

That blackening streaks of blood retain'd, 

And deer-skins, dappled, dun, and white, 

With otter's furs and seal's unite, 

1 MS. : " Here grins the wolf as when he died, 

There hung the wild-cat's brindled hide, 
Above the elk's branch'd brow and skull, 
And frontlet of the forest bull." 



44 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto I. 

In rude and uncouth tapestry all, 
To garnish forth the sylvan hall. 



The wandering stranger round him gazed, 

And next the fallen weapon raised : — 

Few were the arms whose sinewy strength 

Sufficed to stretch it forth at length. 

And as the brand he poised and sway'd, 

" I never knew but one," he said, 

" Whose stalwart arm might brook to wield 

A blade like this in battle-field." 

She sigh'd, then smiled, and took the word ; 

1 ' You see the guardian champion's sword ; 

As light it trembles in his hand, 

As in my grasp a hazel wand ; 

My sire's tall form might grace the part 

Of Ferragus, or Ascabart j 1 

But in the absent giant's hold 

Are women new, and menials old." 



The mistress of the mansion came, 

Mature of age, a graceful dame ; 

Whose easy step and stately port 

Had well become a princely court, 

To whom, though more than kindred knew, 

Young Ellen gave a mother's due. 2 

1 See Appendix, Note B. 

2 MS. : " To whom, though more remote her claim 

Young Ellen gave a mother's name." 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 45 

Meet welcome to her guest she made, 

And every courteous rite was paid, 

That hospitality could claim, 

Though all unask'd his birth and name. 1 

Such then the reverence of a guest, 

That fellest foe might join the feast, 

And from his deadliest foeman's door 

Unquestiorfd turn, the banquet o'er. 

At length his rank the stranger names, 

"The Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James ; 

Lord of a barren heritage, 

Which his brave sires, from age to age, 

By their good swords had held with toil ; 

His sire had fall'n in such turmoil, 

And he, God wot, was forced to stand 

Oft for his right with blade in hand. 

This morning with Lord Moray's train 

He chased a stalwart stag in vain. 

Outstripp'd his comrades, miss'd the deer, 

Lost his good steed, and wander'd here." 



Fain would the Knight in turn require 
The name and state of Ellen's sire. 



1 The Highlanders, who carried hospitality to a punctilious 
excess, are said to have considered it churlish to ask a stranger 
his name or lineage before he had taken refreshment. Feuds 
were so frequent among them, that a contrary rule would in 
many cases have produced the discovery of some circum- 
stance, which might have excluded the guest from the benefit 
of the assistance he stood in need of. 



46 ' THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

Well show'd the elder lady's mien, 1 
That courts and cities she had seen ; 
Ellen, though more her looks display'd 2 
The simple grace of sylvan maid, 
In speech and gesture, form and face, 
Show'd she was come of gentle race. 
'Twere strange in ruder rank to find 
Such looks, such manners, and such mind. 
Each hint the Knight of Snowdoun gave, 
Dame Margaret heard with silence grave ; 
Or Ellen, innocently gay, 
Turn'd all inquiry light away : — • 
" Weird women we ! by dale and down 
We dwell, afar from tower and town. 
We stem the flood, we ride the blast, 
On wandering knights our spells we cast ; 
While viewless minstrels touch the string, ' 
'Tis thus our charmed rhymes we sing." 
She sung, and still a harp unseen 
FilPd up the symphony between. 3 



1 MS.: "Well show'd the mother's easy mien." 
- MS.: " Ellen, though more her looks betray d 
The simple heart of mountain maid, 
In speech and gesture, form and grace, 
Show'd she was come of gentle race ; 
'Twas strange, in birth so rude, to find 
Such/ace, such manners, and such mind. 
Each anxious hint the stranger gave, 
The mother heard with silence grave." 
3 " ' They [meaning the Highlanders] delight much in 
musicke, but chiefly in harps and clairschoes of their own 
fashion. The strings of the clairschoes are made of brass 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 4 7 

XXXI. 

SONG. 

" Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, 

Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking ; 
Dream of battled fields no more, 

Days of danger, nights of waking. 
In our isle's enchanted hall, 

Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, 
Fairy strains of music fall, 

Every sense in slumber dewing. 
Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er, 
Dream of fighting fields no more ; 
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking, 
Morn of toil, nor night of waking. 

wire, and the strings of the harps of sinews ; which strings 
they strike either with their nayles, growing long, or else with 
an instrument appointed for that use. They take pleasure to 
decke their harps and clairschoes with silver and precious 
stones ; the poor ones that cannot attayne hereunto, decke 
them with christall. They sing verses prettily compound, 
contayning (for the most part) prayses of valiant men. There 
is not almost any other argument, whereof their rhymes 
intre.it. They speak the ancient French language altered a 
little.'* The harp and the clairschoes are now only heard 
in the Highlands in ancient song. At what period these 
instruments ceased to be used is not on record ; and tradi- 
tion is silent on this head. But, as Irish harpers occasionally 
visited the Highlands and Western Isles until lately, the harp 
might have been extant so late as the middle of the present 
century. Thus far we know, that from remote times down to 

* / ~ide " Certayne Matters concerning the Realme of Scotland, 
etc., as they were Anno Domini 1597. Lond., 1603," 4to. 



4$ THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

" No rude sound shall reach thine ear, 1 

Armor's clang, or war-steed champing, 
Trump nor pibroch summon here 

Mustering clan, or squadron tramping. 
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come 

At the daybreak from the fallow, 
And the bittern sound his drum, 

Booming from the sedgy shallow. 
Ruder sounds shall none be near, 
Guards nor warders challenge here, 
Here's no war-steed's neigh and champing, 
Shouting clans, or squadrons stamping." 

the present, harpers were received as welcome guests, particu- 
larly in the Highlands of Scotland ; and so late as the latter 
end of the sixteenth century, as appears by the above quota- 
tion, the harp was in common use among the natives of the 
Western Isles. How it happened that the noisy and unhar- 
monious bagpipe banished the soft and expressive harp we 
cannot say ; but certain it is, that the bagpipe is now the only 
instrument that obtains universally in the Highland districts." 
— Campbell's Journey through North Britain. Lond., 
1808, 4to, I. 175. 

Mr. Gunn, of Edinburgh, has lately published a curious 
Essay upon the Harp and Harp Music of the Highlands of 
Scotland. That the instrument was once in common use 
there is most certain. Cleland numbers an acquaintance with 
it among the few accomplishments which his satire allows to 
the Highlanders : — 

" In nothing they're accounted sharp, 
Except in bagpipe or in harp." 

1 MS. : " Noon of hunger, night of waking. 

No rude sound shall rouse thine ear." 



canto l] THE CHASE. 49 

XXXII. 

She paused — then, blushing, led the lay l 

To grace the stranger of the day. 

Her mellow notes awhile prolong 

The cadence of the flowing song, 

Till to her lips in measured frame 

The minstrel verse spontaneous came. 

SONG CONTINUED. 

" Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done, 

While our slumbrous spells assail ye, 2 
Dream not, with the rising sun, 

Bugles here shall sound reveille. 
Sleep ! the deer is in his den ; 

Sleep ! thy hounds are by thee lying ; 
Sleep! nor dream in yonder glen, 

How thy gallant steed lay dying. 
Huntsman, rest ; thy chase is done ; 
Think not of the rising sun, 
For at dawning to assail ye, 
Here no bugles sound reveille." 

XXXIII. 

The hall was clear'd — the stranger's bed 
Was there of mountain heather spread, 

1 MS. : " She paused — but waked again the lay." 

2 MS. : " Slumber sweet our spells shall deal ye, 



Let our 



, , „ f avail ye, 

slumbrous spells \ , ., ' 

( beguile ye. 



50 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i. 

Where oft a hundred guests had lain, 

And dream'd their forest sports again. 1 

But vainly did the heath-flower shed 

Its moorland fragrance round his head ; 

Not Ellen's spell had lulPd to rest 

The fever of his troubled breast. 

In broken dreams the image rose 

Of varied perils, pains, and woes : 

His steed now flounders in the brake, 

Now sinks his barge upon the lake ; 

Now leader of a broken host, 

His standard falls, his honor's lost. 

Then, — from my couch may heavenly might 

Chase that worst phantom of the night ! — 

Again return'd the scenes of youth, 

Of confident undoubting truth ; 

Again his soul he interchanged 

With friends whose hearts were long estranged. 

They come, in dim procession led, 

The cold, the faithless, and the dead ; 

As warm each hand, each brow as gay, 

As if they parted yesterday. 

And doubt distracts him at the view, — 

O were his senses false or true ! 

Dream'd he of death, or broken vow, 

Or is it all a vision now! 2 

1 MS. : " And dream'd their mountain chase again." 

2 " Ye guardian spirits, to whom man is dear, 

From these foul demons shield the midnight gloom : 
Angels of fancy and of love, be near. 

And o'er the blank of sleep diffuse a bloom. 
Evoke the sacred shades of Greece and Rome, 



canto i.j THE CHASE. 51 

XXXIV. 

At length, with Ellen in a grove 

He seem'd to walk, and speak of love ; 

She listened with a blush and s.igh, 

His suit was warm, his hopes were high. 

He sought her yielded hand to clasp, 

And a cold gauntlet met his grasp : 

The phantom's sex was changed and gone, 

Upon its head a helmet shone ; 

Slowly enlarged to giant size, 

With darkened cheek and threatening eyes, 

The grisly visage, stern and hoar, 

To Ellen still a likeness bore. — 

He woke, and, panting with afright, 

Recaird the vision of the night. 1 

And let them virtue with a look impart; 
But chief, awhile, O ! lend us from the tomb 

Those long-lost friends for whom in love we smart, 
And fill with pious awe and joy-mixt woe the heart. 

" Or are you sportive ? — bid the morn of youth 
Rise to new light, and beam afresh the days 
Of innocence, simplicity and truth ; 

To cares estranged, and manhood's thorny ways. 
What transport to retrace our boyish plays, 

Our easy bliss, when each thing joy supplied ; 
The woods, the mountains, and the warbling maze 
Of the wild brooks ! " — Castle of Indolence, Canto I, 
1,1 Such a strange and romantic dream as may be natur- 
ally expected to flow from the extraordinary events of the past 
day. It might, perhaps, be quoted as one of Mr. Scott's most 
successful efforts in descriptive poetry. Some few lines of it 
are indeed unrivalled for delicacy and melancholy tenderness." 
— Critical Review. 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto 

The hearth's decaying brands were red, 

And deep and dusky lustre shed, 

Half showing, half concealing, all 

The uncouth trophies of the hall. 

Mid those the stranger fix'd his eye, 

Where that huge falchion hung on high, 

And thoughts on thoughts, a countless throng, 

Rush'd, chasing countless thoughts along, 

Until, the giddy whirl to cure, 

He rose, and sought the moonshine pure. 

xxxv. 

The wild-rose, eglantine, and broom, 
Wasted around their rich perfume : x 
The birch-trees wept in fragrant balm, 
The aspens slept beneath the calm ; 
The silver light, with quivering glance, 
Play'd on the waters still expanse, — 
Wild were the heart whose passions' sway 
Could rage beneath the sober ray! 
He felt its calm, that warrior guest, 
While thus he communed with his breast : — 
" Why is it, at each turn I trace 
Some memory of that exil'd race? 

i a/tc . •< tdi^„.j „„ ( the bosom of the lake, 

1 MS. : Play d on j Loch Katrine>s still expanse . 

The birch, the wild-rose, and the broom, 
Wasted around their rich perfume. . . . 
The birch-trees wept in balmy due ; 
The aspen slept on Benvenue ; 
Wild were the heart whose passions' power 
Defied the influence of the hour." 



canto i.] THE CHASE. 53 

Can I not mountain maiden spy, 
But she must bear the Douglas eye ? 
Can I not view a Highland brand, 
But it must match the Douglas hand ? 
Can I not frame a fever'd dream, 
But still the Douglas is the theme? 
I'll dream no more — by manly mind 
Not even in sleep is will resign'd. 
My midnight orisons said o'er, 
Til turn to rest, and dream no more."" 
His midnight orisons he told, 
A prayer with every bead of gold, 
Consigned to heaven his cares and woes, 
And sunk in undisturb'd repose ; 
Until the heath-cock shrilly crew, 
And morning dawn'd on Benvenue. 



CANTO SECOND. 
&6c fertanto. 



At morn the black-cock trims his jetty wing, 

'Tis morning prompts the linnet's blithest lay, 
All Nature's children feel the matin spring 

Of life reviving, with reviving day ; 
And while yon little bark glides down the bay, 

Wafting the stranger on his way again, 
Morn's genial influence roused a minstrel gray, 

And sweetly o'er the lake was heard the strain, 
Mix'd with the sounding harp, O white-hair'd Allan- 
Bane! * 

l That Highland chieftains, to a late period, retained in 
their service the bard, as a family officer, admits of very easy 
proof. The author of the Letters from the North of Scot- 
land, an officer of engineers, quartered at Inverness about 
1720, who certainly cannot be deemed a favorable witness, 
gives the following account of the office, and of a bard whom 
he heard exercise his talent of recitation : " The bard is 
skilled in the genealogy of all the Highland families, some- 
times preceptor to the young laird, celebrates in Irish verse 
the original of the tribe, the famous warlike actions of the 
successive heads, and sings his own lyricks as an opiate to 
the chief, when indisposed for sleep ; but poets are not equally 
54 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 55 



ii. 



SONG. 



Not faster yonder rowers' might 
Flings from their oars the spray, 

Not faster yonder rippling bright 

That tracks the shallop's course in light, 
Melts in the lake away, 

Than men from memory erase 

The benefits of former days ; 

Then, stranger, go! good speed the while, 

Nor think again of the lonely isle. 



esteemed and honored in all countries. I happened to be a 
witness of the dishonor done to the muse r at the house of one 
of the chiefs, where two of these bards were set at a good dis- 
tance, at the lower end of a long table, with a parcel of High- 
landers of no extraordinary appearance, over a cup of ale. 
Poor inspiration ! They were not asked to drink a glass of 
wine at our table, though the whole company consisted only 
of the great man, one of his near relations, and myself. After 
some little time, the chief ordered one of them to sing me a 
Highland song. The bard readily obeyed, and with a hoarse 
voice, and in a tune of few various notes, began, as I was 
told, one of his own lyricks: and when he had proceeded to the 
fourth or fifth stanza, I perceived, by the names of several per- 
sons, glens, and mountains, which I had known or heard of 
before, that it was an account of some clan battle. But in his 
going on, the chief (who piques himself upon his school- 
learning), at some particular passage, bid him cease, and 
cried out, 'There's nothing like that in Virgil or Homer.' I 
bowed and told him I believed so. This you may believe was 
very edifying and delightful." — Letters, ii. 167. 



56 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto H. 

" High place to thee in royal court, 

High place in battle line, 
Good hawk and hound for sylvan sport, 
Where beauty sees the brave resort, 1 

The honor'd meed be thine! 
True be thy sword, thy friend sincere, 
Thy lady constant, kind, and dear, 
And lost in love and friendship's smile 
Be memory of the lonely isle. 

in. 

SONG CONTINUED. 

" But if beneath yon southern sky 

A plaided stranger roam, 
Whose drooping crest and stifled sigh, 
And sunken cheek and heavy eye, 

Pine for his Highland home ; 
Then, warrior, then be thine to show 
The care that soothes a wanderer's woe ; 
Remember then thy hap ere while, 
A stranger in the lonely isle. 

" Or if on life's uncertain main 

Mishap shall mar thy sail ; 
If faithful, wise, and brave in vain, 
Woe, want, and exile thou sustain 

Beneath the fickle gale ; 
Waste not a sigh on fortune changed, 
On thankless courts, or friends estranged, 

1 MS. : " At tourneys where the brave resort." 





Upon a rock with lichens wild, 
Beside him Ellen sate and smiled. 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 5 7 

But come where kindred worth shall smile, 
To greet thee in the lonely isle." 



As died the sounds upon the tide, 
The shallop reach'd the mainland side, 
And ere his onward way he took, 
The stranger cast a lingering look, 
Where easily his eye might reach 
The harper on the islet beach, 
Reclined against a blighted tree, 
As wasted, gray, and worn as he. 
To minstrel meditation given, 
His reverend brow was raised to heaven, 
As from the rising sun to claim 
A sparkle of inspiring flame. 
His hand reclined upon the wire, 
Seem'd watching the awakening fire ; 
So still he sate, as those who wait 
Till judgment speak the doom of fate ; 
So still, as if no breeze might dare 
To lift one lock of hoary hair ; 
So still, as life itself were fled, 
In the last sound his harp had sped. 

v. 
Upon a rock with lichens wild, 
Beside him Ellen sate and smiled, — 
Smiled she to see the stately drake 
Lead forth his fleet upon the lake, 
While her vexed spaniel, from the beach. 



58 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto n. 

Bay'd at the prize beyond his reach ? 
Yet tell me, then, the maid who knows, 
Why deepen^ on her cheek the rose? 
Forgive, forgive, Fidelity! 
Perchance the maiden smiled to see 
Yon parting lingerer wave adieu, 
And stop and turn to wave anew ; 
And, lovely ladies, ere your ire 
Condemn the heroine of my lyre, 
Show me the fair would scorn to spy, 
And prize such conquest of her eye ! 



VI. 

While yet he loiter'd on the spot, 
It seem'd as Ellen mark'd him not ; 
But when he turn'd him to the glade, 
One courteous parting sign she made ; 
And after, oft the knight would say, 
That not when prize of festal day 
Was dealt him by the brightest fair, 
Who e'er wore jewel in her hair, 
So highly did his bosom swell, I 
As at that simple mute farewell. 
Now with a trusty mountain-guide, 
And his dark stag-hounds by his side, 
He parts — the maid unconscious still, 
Watch'd him wind slowly round the hill ; 
But when his stately form was hid, 
The guardian in her bosom chid — 
" Thy Malcolm! vain and selfish maid!" 
'Twas thus upbraiding conscience said, — 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 59 

" Not so had Malcolm idly hung 

On the smooth phrase of southern tongue ; 

Not so had Malcolm strain'd his eye, 

Another step than thine to spy. 1 

Wake Allan-Bane, 11 aloud she cried, 

To the old minstrel by her side, — 

" Arouse thte from thy moody dream! 

I'll give thy harp heroic theme, 

And warm thee with a noble name ; 

Pour forth the glory of ttye Gramme ! " 2 

Scarce frcm her lips the word had rush'd, 

When deep the conscious maiden blush'd : 

For of his clan, in hall and bower, 

Youns: Malcolm Graeme was held the flower. 



1 MS. : " The loveliest Lowland fair to spy." 

2 The ancient and powerful family of Graham (which, for 
metrical reasons, is here spelt after the Scottish pronunciation) 
held extensive possessions in the counties of Dumbarton and 
Stirling. Few families can boast of more historical renown, 
having claim to three of the most remarkable characters in the 
Scottish annals. Sir John the Graeme, the faithful and un- 
daunted partaker of the labors and patriotic warfare of Wal- 
lace, fell in the unfortunate field of Falkirk, in 1298. The 
celebrated Marquis of Montrose, in whom De Retz saw real- 
ized his abstract idea of the heroes of antiquity, was the 
second of these worthies. And, notwithstanding the severity 
of his temper, and the rigor with which he executed the op- 
pressive mandates of the princes whom he served, I do not 
hesitate to name as a third, John Graeme, of Claverhouse, 
Viscount of Dundee, whose heroic death, in the arms of vic- 
tory, may be allowed to cancel the memory of his cruelty to 
the non-conformists, during the reigns of Charles II. and 
James II. 



60 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto II. 

VII. 

The minstrel waked his harp, — three times 

Arose the well-known martial chimes, 

And thrice their high heroic pride 

In melancholy murmurs died. 

" Vainly thou bid'st, O noble maid," 

Clasping his wither'd hands, he said, 

" Vainly thou bid'st me wake the strain, 

Though all unwont to bid in vain. 

Alas! than mine a mightier hand 

Has tuned my harp, my strings has spann'd! 

I touch the cords of joy, but low 

And mournful answer notes of w6e ; 

And the proud march, which victors tread, 

Sinks in the wailing for the dead. 

O well for me, if mine alone 

That dirge's deep prophetic tone! 

If, as my tuneful fathers said, 

This harp, which erst Saint Modan sway'd, 1 

1 I am not prepared to show that Saint Modan was a per- 
former on the harp. It was, however, no unsaintly accom- 
plishment : for Saint Dunstan certainly did play upon that 
instrument, which, retaining, as was natural, a portion of the 
sanctity attached to its master's character, announced future 
events by its spontaneous sound. " But laboring once in these 
mechanic arts for a devout matrone that had sett him on work, 
his violl, that hung by him on the wall, of its own accord, with- 
out anie man's helpe, distinctly sounded this anthime: Gaudent 
in ccelis animce sanctorum qui Christi vestigia sunt secuti ; et 
qui pro eius amove sanguinem suum fudevunt, ideo cum Christo 
gaudent cetevnum. Whereat all the companie being much 
astonished, turned their eyes from beholding him working, to 



canto II.] THE ISLAND. 61 

Can thus its master's fate foretell, 
Then welcome be the minstrel's knell! 



VIII. 

" But ah! dear lady, thus it sigh'd 

The eve thy sainted mother died ; 

And such the sounds which, while I strove 

To wake a lay of war or love, 

Came marring all the festal mirth, 

Appalling me who gave them birth, 

look on that strange accident. . . . Not long after, manie of 
the court that hitherunto had borne a kind of fayned friendship 
towards him, began now greatly to envie at his progresse and 
rising in goodnes, using manie crooked, backbiting means to 
diffame his vertues with the black markes of hypocrisie. And 
the better to authorize their calumnie, they brought in this that 
happened in the violl, affirming it to have been done by art 
magick. What more ? this wicked rumour encreased dayly, till 
the king and others of the nobilitie taking hould thereof, Dun- 
stan grew odious in their sight. Therefore he resolued to 
leaue the court, and goe to Elphegus, surnamed the Bauld, 
then bishop of Winchester, who was his cozen. Which his 
enemies understanding, they layd wayte for him in the way, and 
hauing throwne him off his horse, beate him, and dragged him 
in the durt in the most miserable manner, meaning to have 
slaine him, had not a companie of mastiue dogges, that came 
unlookt uppon them, defended and redeemed him from their 
crueltie. When with sorrow he was ashamed to see dogges 
more humane than they. And giuing thankes to Almightie 
God, he sensibly againe perceaued that the tunes of his violl 
had giuen him a warning of future accidents." — Flower of the 
Lives of the most renowned Saincts of England, Scotland, and 
Ireland, by the R. FATHER HlEROME PORTER. Doway, 1632, 
4to. tome i. p. 438. 



62 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto n. 

And, disobedient to my call, 

WaiPd loud through Bothwell's banner'd hall, 

Ere Douglasses, to ruin driven, 1 

Were exiled from their native heaven. 

Oh! if yet worse mishap and woe, 

My master's house must undergo, 

The same supernatural circumstance is alluded to by the 
anonymous author of" Grim, the Collier of Croydon." 

" {Dimstaiis harp sounds on the wall.") 

" Forest. Hark, hark, my lords, the holy abbot's harp 

Sounds by itself so hanging on the wall ! 
" Duustan. Unhallow'd man, that scorn'st the sacred rede, 

Hark, how the testimony of my truth 

Sounds heavenly music with an angel's hand, 

To testify Dunstan's integrity, 

And prove thy active boast of no effect." 

1 The downfall of the Douglasses of the house of Angus, 
during the reign of James V., is the event alluded to in the 
text. The Earl of Angus, it will be remembered, had married 
the queen dowager, and availed himself of the right which he 
thus acquired, as well as of his extensive power, to retain the 
king in a sort of tutelage, which approached very near to 
captivity. Several open attempts were made to rescue James 
from this thraldom, with which he was well known to be 
deeply disgusted ; but the valor of the Douglasses, and their 
allies, gave them the victory in every conflict. At length the 
king, while residing at Falkland, contrived to escape by night 
out of his own court and palace, and rode full speed to Stir- 
ling Castle, where the governor, who was of the opposite fac- 
tion, joyfully received him. Being thus at liberty, James 
speedily summoned around him such peers as he knew to 
be most inimical to the domination of Angus, and laid his 
complaint before them, says Pitscottie, " with great lamenta- 
tions : showing to them how he was holden in subjection, 
thir years bygone, by the Earl of Angus, and his kin and 
friends, who oppressed the whole country, and spoiled it, 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 63 

Or aught but weal to Ellen fair, 
Brood in these accents of despair, 
No future bard, sad Harp! shall fling 
Triumph or rapture from thy string ; 
One short, one final strain shall flow, 
Fraught with unutterable woe, 
Then shiver'd shall thy fragments lie, 
Thy master cast him down and die ! " 

IX. 

Soothing she answer'd him, "Assuage, 
Mine honor'd friend, the fears of age ; 

under the pretence of justice and his authority; and had 
slain many of his lieges, kinsmen, and friends, because they 
would have had it mended at their hands, and put him at 
liberty, as he ought to have been at the counsel of his whole 
lords, and not have been subjected and corrected with no 
particular men, by the rest of his nobles : Therefore, said he, 
I desire, my lords, that I may be satisfied of the said earl, his 
kin, and friends; for I avow, that Scotland shall not hold us 
both, while [i.e. till] I be revenged on him and his. 

" The Lords hearing the king's complaint and lamentation, 
and also the great rage, fury, and malice, that he bore toward 
the Earl of Angus, his kin and friends, they concluded all, and 
thought it best that he should be summoned to underlay the 
law : if he found no caution, nor yet compear himself, that he 
should be put to the horn, with all his kin and friends, so 
many as were contained in the letters. And farther, the lords 
ordained, by advice of his majesty, that his brother and 
friends should be summoned to find caution to underlay the 
law within a certain day, or else be put to the horn. But the 
earl appeared not, nor none for him : and so he was put to 
the horn, with all his kin and friends : so many as were con- 
tained in the summons, that compeared not, were banished, 
and holden traitors to the king." 



64 . THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto ii. 

All melodies to thee are known, 

That harp has rung or pipe has blown, 

In Lowland vale or Highland glen, 

From Tweed to Spey — what marvel, then, 

At times, unbidden notes should rise, 

Confusedly bound in memory's ties, 

Entangling as they rush along, 

The war-march with the funeral song? — 

Small ground is now for boding fear ; 

Obscure, but safe, we rest us here. 

My sire, in native virtue great, 

Resigning lordship, lands, and state, 

Not then to fortune more resign'd, 

Than yonder oak might give the wind ; 

The graceful foliage storms may reave, 

The noble stem they cannot grieve. 

For me," — she stoop'd, and, looking round, 

Pluck'd a blue hare-bell from the ground, — 

" For me, whose memory scarce conveys 

An image of more splendid days, 

This little flower that loves the lea, 

May well my simple emblem be ; 

It drinks heaven's dew as blithe as rose 1 

That in the king's own garden grows ; 

And when I place it in my hair, 

Allan, a bard is bound to swear 

He ne'er saw coronet so fair." 

Then playfully the chaplet wild 

She wreath'd in her dark locks, and smiled. 

1 MS. : " No blither dew-drop cheers the rose." 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 65 



Her smile, her speech, with winning sway, 
Wiled the old harper's mood away. 
With such a look as hermits throw, 
When angels stoop to soothe their woe, 
He gazed, till fond regret and pride 
Thriird to a tear, then thus replied : 
" Loveliest and best! thou little know'st 
The rank, the honors, thou hast lost! 
O might I live to see thee grace, 
In Scotland's court, thy birth-right place, 
To see my favorite's step advance, 1 
The lightest in the courtly dance, 
The cause of every gallant's sigh, 
And leading star of every eye, 
And theme of every minstrel's art, 
The Lady of the Bleeding Heart! 1 ' 2 

XI. 

" Fair dreams are these,' 1 the maiden cried, 
(Light was her accent, yet she sighed ;) 
" Yet is this mossy rock to me 
Worth splendid chair and canopy ; 3 
Nor would my footsteps spring more gay 
In courtly dance than blithe strathspey, 
Nor half so pleased mine ear incline 
To royal minstrel's lay as thine. 

1 This couplet is not in the MS. 

2 The well-known cognizance of the Douglas family. 
8 MS. : " This mossy rock, my friend, to me 

Is worth gay chair and canopy." 



66 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto II. 

And then for suitors proud and high, 
To bend before my conquering eye, — 
Thou, flattering bard! thyself wilt say, 
That grim Sir Roderick owns its sway. 
The Saxon scourge, Clan-Alpine's pride, 
The terror of Loch Lomond's side, 
Would, at my suit, thou know'st, delay 
A Lennox foray — for a day." 

XII. 

The ancient bard her glee repressed : 
" 111 hast thou chosen theme for jest! 
For who, through all this western wild, 
Named Black Sir Roderick e'er, and smiled! 
In Holy-Rood a knight he slew ; l 
I saw, when back the dirk he drew, 
. Courtiers give place before the stride 
Of the undaunted homicide ; 2 
And since, though outlaw'd, hath his hand, 
Full sternly kept his mountain land. 
Who else dare give — ah! woe the day, 3 
That I such hated truth should say — 
The Douglas, like a stricken deer, 
Disown'd by every noble peer, 4 
Even the rude refuge we have here? 

1 See Appendix, Note C. 

2 MS. : " Courtiers gave place with heartless stride 

Of the retiring homicide." 

3 MS. : " Who else dared own the kindred claim 

That bound him to thy mother's name ? 
Who else dared give," etc. 

4 The exiled state of this powerful race is not exaggerated 
in this and subsequent passages. The hatred of James 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 67 

Alas, this wild marauding Chief 

Alone might hazard our relief, 

And now thy maiden charms expand, 

Looks for his guerdon in thy hand ; 

Full soon may dispensation sought, 

To back his suit from Rome be brought. 

Then, though an exile on the hill, 

Thy father, as the Douglas, still 

Be held in reverence and fear ; 

And though to Roderick thou'rt so dear, 

That thou mightst guide with silken thread, 

Slave of thy will, this chieftain dread ; 

Yet, O loved maid, thy mirth refrain! 

Thy hand is on a lion's mane.'' 1 — 



against the race of Douglas was so inveterate that, numerous 
as their allies were, and disregarded as the regal authority 
had usually been in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in 
the most remote parts of Scotland, durst not entertain them, 
unless under the strictest and closest disguise. James Doug- 
las, son of the banished Earl of Angus, afterwards well known 
by the title of Earl of Morton, lurked, during the exile of his 
family, in the north of Scotland, under the assumed name 
of James Innes, otherwise James the Grieve {i.e., Reve or 
Bailiff). " And as he bore the name," says Godscroft, " so did 
he also execute the office of a grieve or overseer of the lands 
and rents, the corn and cattle of him with whom he lived." 
From the habits of frugality and observation which he acquired 
in his humble situation, the historian traces that intimate 
acquaintance with popular character, which enabled him to 
rise so high in the state, and that honorable economy by 
which he repaired and established the shattered estates of 
Angus and Morton. — History 0/ the House 0/ Douglas, Edin- 
burgh, 1743, vol. ii. p. 160. 



68 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto II. 

XIII. 

" Minstrel," the maid replied, and high 
Her father's soul glanced from her eye, 
" My debts to Roderick's house I know: 
All that a mother could bestow, 
To Lady Margaret's care I owe, 
Since first an orphan in the wild 
She sorrow'd o'er her sister's child ; 
To her brave chieftain son, from ire 
Of Scotland's king who shrouds my sire, 
A deeper, holier debt is owed ; 
And, could I pay it with my blood, 
Allan! Sir Roderick should command 
My blood, my life, — but not my hand. 
Rather will Ellen Douglas dwell 
A votaress in Maronnan's cell ; 1 
Rather through realms beyond the sea, 
Seeking the world's cold charity, 
Where ne'er was spoke a Scottish word, 
And ne'er the name of Douglas heard, 
An outcast pilgrim will she rove, 
Than wed the man she cannot love. 2 

1 The parish of Kilmaronock, at the eastern extremity of 
Loch-Lomond, derives its name from a cell or chapel, dedi- 
cated to Saint Maronoch, or Marnoch, or Maronnan, about 
whose sanctity very little is now remembered. There is a 
fountain devoted to him in the same parish ; but its virtues, 
like the merits of its patron, have fallen into oblivion. 

2 " Ellen is most exquisitely drawn, and could not have 
been improved by contrast. She is beautiful, frank, affec- 
tionate, rational, and playful, combining the innocence of a 
child with the elevated sentiments and courage of a heroine." 
— Quarterly Review. 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 

XIV. 



69 



« Thou shakest, good friend, thy tresses gray — 

That pleading look, what can it say 

But what I own ? - I grant him brave, 

But wild as Bracklinn's thundering wave ; 

And generous— save vindictive mood, 

Or jealous transport, chafe his blood : 

I grant him true to friendly band, 

As his claymore is to his hand ; 

But O: that very blade of steel 

More mercy for a foe would feel : 

I grant him liberal, to fling 

Among his clan the wealth they bring, 

When back by lake and glen they wind, 

And in the Lowland leave behind, 

Where once some pleasant hamlet stood, 

A mass of ashes slaked with blood. 

The hand that for my father fought, 

I honor as his daughter ought ; 

But can I clasp it reeking red, 

From peasants slaughter^ in their shed? 

No ! wildly while his virtues gleam, 

They make his passions darker seem, 

1 This is a beautiful cascade made by a mountain stream 
called the Keltie, at a place called the Bridge of Brackl.nn, 
about a mile from the village of Callendar in Menteith. 
Above a chasm, where the brook precipitates itself from a 
height of at least fifty feet, there is thrown, for the convenience 
of The neighborhood, a rustic footbridge, of about three feet 
in breadth, and without ledges, which is scarcely to be crossed 
by a stranger without awe and apprehension. 



70 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto II. 

And flash along his spirit high, 

Like lightning o'er the midnight sky. 

While yet a child, — and children know, 

Instinctive taught, the friend and foe, — 

I shudder'd at his brow of gloom, 

His shadowy plaid, and sable plume! 

A maiden grow.i, I ill could bear 

His haughty mien and lordly air ; 

But, if thou join'st a suitor's claim, 

In serious mood, to Roderick's name, 

I thrill with anguish ! or, if e'er 

A Douglas knew the word, with fear. 

To change such odious theme were best, — 

What think'st thou of our stranger guest ? " 

xv. 
" What think I of him? — woe the while 
That brought such wanderer to our isle! 
Thy father's battle-brand, of yore 
For Tine-man forged by fairy lore, 1 

1 Archibald, the third Earl of Douglas, was so unfortunate 
in all his enterprises, that he acquired the epithet of TlNE- 
MAN, because he fined, or lost, his followers in every battle 
which he fought. He was vanquished, as every reader must 
remember, in the bloody battle of Homildon-hill, near Wooler, 
where he himself lost an eye, and was made prisoner by 
Hotspur. He was no less unfortunate when allied with Percy, 
being wounded and taken at the battle of Shrewsbury. He 
was so unsuccessful in an attempt to besiege Roxburgh 
Castle, that it was called the Foul Raid, or disgraceful expedi- 
tion. His ill fortune left him indeed at the battle of Beauge, 
in France; but it was only to return with double emphasis at 
the subsequent action of Vernoil, the last and most unlucky 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 7 1 

What time he leagued, no longer foes, 

His Border spears with Hotspur's bows, 

Did, self-unscabbarded, foreshow 

The footstep of a secret foe. 1 

If courtly spy hath harbor 1 d here, 

What may we for the Douglas fear? 

What for this island, deerrfd of old 

Clan-Alpine's last and surest hold? 

If neither spy nor foe, I pray 

What yet may jealous Roderick say? 

— Nay, wave not thy disdainful head, 

Bethink thee of the discord dread 

That kindled, when at Beltane game 

Thou ledst the dance with Malcolm Graeme ; 

Still, though thy sire the peace renewed, 

Smoulders in Roderick's breast the feud ; 

Beware! — But hark, what sounds are these? 2 

My dull ears catch no faltering breeze, 

No weeping birch, nor aspens wake, 

Nor breath is dimpling in the lake, 

Still is the canna's 3 hoary beard, — 

Yet, by my minstrel faith, I heard — 

And hark again! some pipe of war 

Sends the bold pibroch from afar. 1 ' 

of his encounters, in which he fell, with the flower of the 
Scottish chivalry, then serving as auxiliaries in France, and 
about two thousand common soldiers, A.D. 1424. 

1 See Appendix, Xote D. 

2 " The moving picture — the effect of the sounds — and 
the wild character and strong peculiar nationality of the whole 
procession, are given with inimitable spirit and power of ex- 
pression." — Jeffrey. 

3 Cotton-grass. 



72 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto ii. 

xvi. 
Far up the lengthened lake were spied 
Four darkening specks upon the tide, 
That, slow enlarging on the view, 
Four mann'd and masted barges grew, 
And, bearing downwards from Glengyle, 
Steer'd full upon the lonely isle ; 
The point of Brianchoil they pass'd, 
And, to the windward as they cast, 
Against the sun they gave to shine 
The bold Sir Roderick's banner'd Pine. 
Nearer and nearer as they bear, 
Spears, pikes, and axes flash in air. 
Now might you see the tartans brave, 
And plaids and plumage dance and wave : 
Now see the bonnets sink and rise, 
As his tough oar the rower plies ; 
See, flashing at each sturdy stroke, 
The wave ascending into smoke ; 
See the proud pipers on the bow, 
And mark the gaudy streamers flow 
From their loud chanters x down, and sweep 
The furrow'd bosom of the deep, 
'As, rushing through the lake amain, 
They plied the ancient Highland strain. 

XVII. 

Ever, as on they bore, more loud 
And louder rung the pibroch proud. 

1 The pipes of the bagpipe. 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 73 

At first the sounds, by distance tame, 

Mellow'd along the, waters came, 

And, lingering long by cape and bay, 

Wail'd every harsher note away ; 

Then, bursting bolder on the ear, 

The clan's shrill Gathering they could hear ; 

Those thrilling sounds, that call the might 

Of old Clan-Alpine to the fight. 1 

Thick beat the rapid notes, as when 

The mustering hundreds shake the glen, 

And hurrying at the signal dread, 

The batter' d earth returns their tread. 

Then prelude light, of livelier tone, 

ExpressYl their merry marching on, 

Ere peal of closing battle rose, 

With mingled outcry, shrieks, and blows ; 

A mimic din of stroke and ward, 

As broadsword upon target jarr'd ; 

And groaning pause, ere yet again, 

Condensed, the battle yell'd amain ; 



1 The connoisseurs in pipe-music affect to discover in a 
well-composed pibroch, the imitative sounds of march, con- 
flict, fight, pursuit, and all the " current of a heady fight." To 
this opinion Dr. Beattie has given his suffrage, in the follow- 
ing elegant passage : " A pibroch is a species of tune, peculiar, 
I think, to the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. 
It is performed on a bagpipe, and differs totally from all other 
music. Its rhythm is so irregular, and its notes, especially in 
the quick movement, so mixed and huddled together that a 
stranger finds it impossible to reconcile his ear to it, so as to per- 
ceive its modulation. Some of these pibrochs, being intended 
to represent a battle, begin with a grave motion resembling a 



74 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto ii. 

The rapid charge, the rallying shout, 
Retreat borne headlong into rout, 
And bursts of triumph, to declare 
Clan-Alpine's conquest — all were there. 
Nor ended thus the strain ; but slow 
Sunk in a moan prolong'd and low, 
And changed the conquering clarion swell, 
For wild lament o'er those that fell. 



XVIII. 

The war-pipes ceased ; but lake and hill 
Were busy with their echoes still ; 
And when they slept, a vocal strain 
Bade their hoarse chorus wake again, 
While loud a hundred clansmen raise 
Their voices in their Chieftain's praise. 
Each boatman, bending to his oar, 
With measured sweep the burden bore, 
In such wild cadence, as the breeze 
Makes through December's leafless trees. 
The chorus first could Allan know, 
" Roderick Vich Alpine, ho ! iro ! " 
And near, and nearer as they row'd, 
Distinct the martial ditty flow'd. 



march ; then gradually quicken into the onset ; run off with 
noisy confusion, and turbulent rapidity, to imitate the con- 
flict and pursuit ; then swell into a few flourishes of trium- 
phant joy ; and perhaps close with the wild and low wailings of 
a funeral procession." — Essays on Laughter and Ludicrous 
Composition, chap. iii. Note. 



canto II.] THE ISLAXD. 75 

XIX. 

BOAT SONG. 

Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances ! 

Honor'd and bless'd be the ever-green Pine ! 
Long may the tree, in his banner that glances, 
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line ! 

Heaven send it happy dew, 

Earth lend it sap anew, 
Gayly to bourgeon, and broadly to grow, 

While every Highland glen 

Send our shout back agen, 
" Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " l 

Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by the fountain, 
Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade ; 

When the whirlwind has stripp'd every leaf on the 
mountain, 
The more shall Clan-Alpine exult in her shade. 

1 Besides his ordinary name and surname, which were 
chiefly used in the intercourse with the Lowlands, every High- 
land chief had an epithet expressive of his patriarchal dignity 
as head of the clan, and which was common to all his pred- 
ecessors and successors, as Pharaoh to the kings of Egypt, 
or Arsaces to those of Parthia. This name was usually a 
patronymic, expressive of his descent from the founder of the 
family. Thus the Duke of Argyle is called MacCallum More, 
or the son of Colin the Great. Sometimes, however, it is 
derived from armorial distinctions, or the memory of some 
great feat; thus Lord Seaforth, as chief of the Mackenzies, or 
Clan-Kenneth, bears the epithet of Caber-fae, or Buck's Head, 
as representative of Colin Fitzgerald, founder of the family, 
who saved the Scottish king when endangered by a stag. But 



76 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto ii. 

Moor'd in the rifted rock, 

Proof to the tempest's shock, 
Firmer he roots him the ruder it blow ; 

Menteith and Breadalbane, then, 

Echo his praise again, 
11 Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe !" 

xx. 

Proudly our pibroch has thrilPd in Glen Fruin, 

And Bannochar's groans to our slogan replied ; 
Glen Luss and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin, 
And the best of Loch Lomond lie dead on her side. 1 
Widow and Saxon maid 
Long shall lament our raid, 
Think of Clan-Alpine with fear and with woe ; 
Lennox and Leven-glen 
Shake when they hear again, 
" Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " 
besides this title, which belonged to his office and dignity, the 
chieftain had usually another peculiar to himself, which dis- 
tinguished him from the chieftains of the same race. This 
was sometimes derived from complexion, as dhu or roy ; some- 
times from size, as beg or more ; at other times, from some 
peculiar exploit, or from some peculiarity of habit or appear- 
ance. The line of the text therefore signifies, 

Black Roderick, the descendant of Alpine. 
The song itself is intended as an imitation of the j'orrams, 
or boat-songs of the Highlanders, which were usually com- 
posed in honor of a favorite chief. They are so adapted as 
to keep time with the sweep of the oars, and it is easy to dis- 
tinguish between those intended to be sung to the oars of a 
galley, where the stroke is lengthened and doubled, as it were, 
and those which were timed to the rowers of an ordinary boat. 
1 See Appendix, Note E. 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 77 

Row, vassals, row for the pride of the Highlands ! 

Stretch to your oars, for the ever-green Pine ! 
O! that the rose-bud that graces yon islands, 
Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine. 

O, that some seedling gem, 

Worthy such noble stem, 
Honor'd and blessed in their shadow might grow ! 

Loud should Clan-Alpine then 

Ring from her deepest glen, 
" Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!" x 

XXI. 

With all her joyful female band, 

Had Lady Margaret sought the strand. 

Loose on the breeze their tresses flew, 

And high their snowy arms they threw, 

As echoing back with shrill acclaim, 

And chorus wild, the Chieftain's name ; 2 

While, prompt to please, with mother's art, 

The darling passion of his heart, 

The Dame called Ellen to the strand 

To greet her kinsman ere he land : 

" Come, loiterer, come! a Douglas thou, 

And shun to wreathe a victor's brow ? " — 

Reluctantly and slow, the maid 

The unwelcome summoning obeyed, 

1 " However we may dislike the geographical song and 
chorus, half English and half Erse, which is sung in praise of 
the warrior, we must allow that, in other respects, the hero of 
a poem has seldom, if ever, been introduced with finer effect, 
or in a manner better calculated to excite the expectations of 
the reader, than on the present occasion." — Critical Review. 

2 MS. : " The chorus to the chieftain's fame!' 



78 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto ii. 

And, when a distant bugle rung, 

In the mid-path aside she sprung: — 

" List, Allan-Bane! From mainland cast, 

I hear my father's signal blast. 

Be ours," she cried, " the skiff to guide, 

And waft him from the mountain-side." 

Then, like a sunbeam, swift and bright, 

She darted to her shallop light, 

And, eagerly while Roderick scann'd, 

For her dear form, his mother's band, 

The islet far behind her lay, 

And she had landed in the bay. 

XXII. 

Some feelings are to mortals given, 
With less of earth in them than heaven : 
And if there be a human tear 
From passion's dross refined and clear, 
A tear so limpid and so meek, 
It would not stain an angel's cheek, 
'Tis that which pious fathers shed 
Upon a duteous daughter's head! 
And as the Douglas to his breast 
His darling Ellen closely press'd, 
Such holy drops her tresses steep'd, 
Though 'twas an hero's eye that weep'd. 
Nor while on Ellen's faltering tongue x 
Her filial welcomes crowded hung, 

1 MS. : " Nor while on Ellen's faltering tongue 
Her filial greetings eager hung, 
Mark'd not that awe (affection's proof) 
Still held yon gentle youth aloof; 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 79 

Mark'd she, that fear (affection's proof) 
Still held a graceful youth aloof ; 
No! not till Douglas named his name, 
Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme. 



XXIII. 

Allan, with wistful look the while, 

Mark'd Roderick landing on the isle ; 

His master piteously he eyed, 

Then gazed upon the Chieftain's pride, 

Then dasb/d, with hasty hand, away 

From his dimm'd eye the gathering spray ; 

And Douglas, as his hand he laid 

On Malcolm's shoulder, kindly said, 

" Canst thou, young friend, no meaning spy 

In my poor follower's glistening eye? 

I'll tell thee : he recalls the day, 

When in my praise he led the lay 

O'er the arch'd gate of Bothwell proud, 

While many a minstrel answer'd loud, 

When Percy's Norman pennon won 

In bloody field before me shone, 

And twice ten knights, the least a name 

As mighty as yon Chief may claim, 

Gracing my pomp, behind me came. 

Yet trust me, Malcolm, not so proud 

Was I of all that marshaird crowd, 

No ! not till Douglas named his name, 
Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme, 
Then with flushed cheek and downcast eye, 
Their greeting was confused and shy." 



80 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto n. 

Though the waned crescent own'd my might, 
And in my train troop'd lord and knight, 
Though Blantyre hymn 1 d her holiest lays 
And Bothwell's bards flung back my praise 
As when this old man's silent tear, 
And this poor maid's affection dear, 
A welcome give more kind and true, 
Than aught my better fortunes knew. 
Forgive, my friend, a father's boast, — 
O, it out-beggars all I lost ! " 

xxiv. 
Delightful praise! — Like surnmer rose 
That brighter in the dew-drop glows, 
The bashful maiden's cheek appear'd, 
For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard. 
The flush of shame-faced joy to hide, 
The hounds, the hawk, her cares divide ; 
The loved caresses of the maid 
The dogs with crouch and whimper paid ; x 
And, at her whistle, on her hand 
The falcon took his favorite stand, 
Closed his dark wing, relax'd his eye, 
Nor, though unhooded, sought to fly. 
And, trust, while in such guise she stood, 
Like fabled Goddess of the wood, 2 
That if a father's partial thought 
O'erweigh'd her worth and beauty aught, 
Well might the lover's judgment fail 
To balance with a juster scale ; 

1 MS. : " The dogs with whimpering notes repaid." 

2 MS. : " Like fabled huntress of the wood." 



canto II.] THE ISLAND. 81 

For with each secret glance he stole, 

The fond enthusiast sent his soul. 



Of stature tall, and slender frame, 

But firmly knit, was Malcolm Graeme. 

The belted plaid and tartan hose 

Did ne'er more graceful limbs disclose ; 

His flaxen hair of sunny hue, 

Curl'd closely round his bonnet blue. 

Train'd to the chase, his eagle eye 

The ptarmigan in snow could spy ; 

Each pass, by mountain, lake, and heath, 

He knew, through Lennox and Menteith ; 

Vain was the bound of dark-brown doe, 

When Malcolm bent his sounding bow, 

And scarce that doe, though wing'd with fear, 

Outstripp'd in speed the mountaineer : 

Right up Ben Lomond could he press, 

And not a sob his toil confess. 

His form accorded with a mind 

Lively and ardent, frank and kind ; 

A blither heart till Ellen came, 

Did never love or sorrow tame ; 

It danced as lightsome in his breast, 

As play'd the feather on his crest. 

Yet friends who nearest knew the youth, 

His scorn of wrong, his zeal for truth, 

And bards, who saw his features bold 

When kindled by the tales of old, 

Said, were that youth to manhood grown 

Not long should Roderick Dhu's renown 



82 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto n. 

Be foremost voiced by mountain fame, 
But quail to that of Malcolm Gramme. 



XXVI. 

Now back they wend their watery way, 
And, " O my sire ! " did Ellen say, 
" Why urge thy chase so far astray? 
And why so late return'd? And why 1 ' — 
The rest was in her speaking eye. 
" My child, the chase I follow far, 
'Tis mimicry of noble war ; 
And with that gallant pastime reft 
Were all of Douglas I have left. 
I met young Malcolm as I stray'd, 
Far eastward, in Glenfinlas 1 shade. 
Nor stray'd I safe ; for, all around, 
Hunters and horsemen scour'd the ground. 
This youth, though still a royal ward, 
Risk'd life and land to be my guard, 
And through the passes of the wood 
Guided my steps, not unpursued ; 
And Roderick shall his welcome make, 
Despite old spleen, for Douglas 1 sake. 
Then must he seek Strath-Endrick glen, 
Nor peril aught for me again." 

XXVII. 

Sir Roderick, who to meet them came, 
Redden'd at sight of Malcolm Graeme, 
Yet, not in action, word, or eye, 
FaiPd aught in hospitality. 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 8 3 

In talk and sport they whiled away 
The morning of that summer day ; 
But at high-noon a courier light 
Held secret parley with the knight, 
Whose moody aspect soon declared 
That evil were the news he heard. 
Deep thought seenfd toiling in his head ; 
Yet was the evening banquet made, 
Ere he assembled round the flame, 
His mother, Douglas, and the Graeme, 
And Ellen, too ; then cast around 
His eyes, then fixed them on the ground, 
As studying phrase that might avail 
Best to convey unpleasant tale. 
Long with his dagger's hilt he play'd, 
Then raised his haughty brow, and said : 

XXVIII. 

" Short be my speech ; — nor time affords, 
Nor my plain temper, glozing words. 
Kinsman and father, — if such name 
Douglas vouchsafe to Roderick's claim ; 
Mine honor'd mother ; — Ellen, — why, 
My cousin, turn away thine eye? — 
And Graeme, in whom I hope to know 
Full soon a noble friend or foe, 
When age shall give thee thy command, 
And leading in thy native land, — 
List all ! — the King's vindictive pride 
Boasts to have tamed the Border-side. 1 

i In 1529, James V. made a convention at Edinburgh for 
the purpose of considering the best mode of quelling the 



84 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto n. 

Where chiefs, with hound and hawk who came, 
To share their monarch's sylvan game, 
Themselves in bloody toils were snared ; 
And when the banquet they prepared, 
And wide their loyal portals flung, 
O'er their own gateway struggling hung. 
Loud cries their blood from Meggafs mead, 
From Yarrow braes, and banks of Tweed, 
Where the lone streams of Ettrick glide, 
And from the silver Teviofs side ; 

Border robbers, who, during the license of his minority, 
and the troubles which followed, had committed many exor- 
bitances. Accordingly, he assembled a flying army of ten 
thousand men, consisting of his principal nobility and their 
followers, who were directed to bring their hawks and dogs 
with them, that the monarch might refresh himself with sport 
during the intervals of military execution. With this array 
he swept through Ettrick Forest, where he hanged over the 
gate of his own castle Piers Cockburn of Henderland, who 
had prepared, according to tradition, a feast for his reception. 
He caused Adam Scott of Tushielaw also to be executed, 
who was distinguished by the title of King of the Border. 
But the most noted victim of justice during that expedition 
was John Armstrong of Gilnockie* famous in Scottish song, 
who, confiding in his own supposed innocence, met the King, 
with a retinue of thirty-six persons, all of whom were hanged 
at Carlenrig, near the source of the Teviot. The effect of 
this severity was such, that, as the vulgar expressed it, " the 
rush-bush kept the cow," and, " thereafter was great peace and 
rest for a long time, wherethrough the King had great profit ; 
for he had ten thousand sheep going in the Ettrick Forest in 
keeping by Andrew Bell, who made the King as good count 
of them as they had gone in the bounds of Fife." — PlTS- 
COTTIE'S History, p. 153. 

* See Border Minstrelsy, vol. i. p. 392. 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 85 

The dales, where martial clans did ride, 1 

Are now one sheep-walk, waste and wide. 

This tyrant of the Scottish throne, 

So faithless, and so ruthless known, 

Now hither comes ; his end the same, 

The same pretext of sylvan game. 

What grace for Highland Chiefs, judge ye 

By fate of Border chivalry. - 

Yet more : amid Glenfinlas 1 green, 

Douglas, thy stately form was seen. 

This by espial sure I know : 

Your counsel in the streight I show." 1 

XXIX. 

Ellen and Margaret fearfully 
Sought comfort in each other's eye, 
Then turn'd their ghastly look, each one, 
This to her sire, that to her son. 

1 MS. : " The dales where clans were wont to bide." 

2 James was, in fact, equally attentive to restrain rapine and 
feudal oppression in every part of his dominions. " The King 
past to the Isles, and there held justice courts, and punished 
both thief and traitor according to their demerit. And also 
he caused great men to show their holdings, wherethrough he 
found many of the said lands in non-entry ; the which he con- 
fiscate and brought home to his own use, and afterward an- 
nexed them to the crown, as ye shall hear. Syne brought 
many of the great men of the isles captive with him, such as 
Mudyart, M'Connel, M'Loyd of the Lewes, M'Neil, M'Lane, 
M'Intosh, John Mudyart, M'Kay, M'Kenzie, with many other 
that I cannot rehearse at this time. Some of them he put in 
ward and some in court, and some he took pledges for good 
rule in time coming. So he brought the isles, both north and 
south, in good rule and peace ; wherefore he had great profit, 



86 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto II. 

The hasty color went and came 

In the bold cheek of Malcolm Graeme ; 

But from his glance it well appear'd, 

'Twas but for Ellen that he fear'd ; 

While, sorrowful, but undismay'd, 

The Douglas thus his counsel said : 

" Brave Roderick, though the tempest roar, 

It may but thunder and pass o'er; 

Nor will I here remain an hour, 

To draw the lightning on thy bower ; 

For well thou know'st, at this gray head 

The royal bolt were fiercest sped. 

For thee, who, at thy King's command, 

Canst aid him with a gallant band, 

Submission, homage, humbled pride, 

Shall turn the Monarch's wrath aside. 

Poor remnants of the Bleeding Heart, 

Ellen and I will seek, apart, • 

The refuge of some forest cell, 

There, like the hunted quarry, dwell, 

Till on the mountain and the moor, 

The stern pursuit be pass'd and o'er.' 1 

XXX. 

" No, by mine honor, 1 ' Roderick said, 
" So help me Heaven, and my good blade ! 
No, never ! Blasted be yon Pine, 
My father's ancient crest and mine, 

service, and obedience of people a long time hereafter; 
and as long as he had the heads of the country in subjection, 
they lived in great peace and rest, and there was great riches 
and policy by the King's justice." — PlTSCOTTlE, p. 152. 



CANTO II.] 



THE ISLAND. 



57 



If from its shade in danger part 
The lineage of the Bleeding Heart! 
Hear my blunt speech : grant me this maid 
To wife, thy counsel to mine aid ; 
To Douglas, leagued with Roderick Dhu, 
Will friends and allies flock enow ; 
Like cause of doubt, distrust, and grief, 
Will bind to us each Western Chief. 
When the loud pipes my bridal tell, 
The Links of Forth shall hear the knell, 
The guards shall start in Stirling's porch ; 
And, & when I light the nuptial torch, 
A thousand villages in flames, 
Shall scare the slumbers of King James! 
— Nay, Ellen, blench not thus away, 
And, mother, cease these signs, I pray ; 
I meant not all my heat might say. 
Small need of inroad, or of fight, 
When the sage Douglas may unite 
Each mountain clan in friendly band, 
To guard the passes of their land, 
Till" the foil'd king from pathless glen, 1 
Shall bootless turn him home again. " 



XXXI. 

There are who have at midnight hour, 
In slumber scaled a dizzy tower, 
And on the verge that beetled o'er 
The ocean tide's incessant roar, 

1 MS. : " Till the foil'd king, from hill and glen. 



88 TILE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto ii. 

Dreairfd calmly out their dangerous dream, 1 

Till waken'd by the morning beam ; 

When, dazzled by the eastern glow, 

Such startler cast his glance below, 

And saw unmeasured depth around. 

And heard unintermitted sound, 

And thought the battled fence so frail 

It waved like cobweb in the gale ; — 

Amid his senses' giddy wheel, 

Did he not desperate impulse feel, 

Headlong to plunge himself below, 

And meet the worst his fears foreshow ? — 

Thus, Ellen, dizzy and astound, 

As sudden ruin yawned around, 

By crossing terrors wildly toss'd, 

Still for the Douglas fearing most, 

Could scarce the desperate thought withstand, 

To buy his safety with her hand. 

XXXII. 

Such purpose dread could Malcolm spy 
In Ellen's quivering lip and eye, 
And eager rose to speak — but ere 
His tongue could hurry forth his fear, 
Had Douglas mark'd the hectic strife, 
Where death seem'd combating with life ; 
For to her cheek, in feverish flood, 
One instant rush'd the throbbing blood, 
Then ebbing back, with sudden sway, 
Left its domain as wan as clay. 

1 MS. : " Dream'd calmly out their desperate dream." 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. gg 

" Roderick, enough! enough!" he cried, 

" My daughter cannot be thy bride ; 

Not that the blush to wooer dear, 

Nor paleness that of maiden fear. 

It may not be — forgive her, Chief, 

Nor hazard aught for our relief. 

Against his sovereign, Douglas ne'er 

Will level a rebellious spear. 

'Twas I that taught his youthful hand 

To rein a steed and wield a brand ; 

I see him yet, the princely boy! 

Not Ellen more my pride and joy ; 

I love him still, despite my wrongs 

By hasty wrath and slanderous tongues. 

O seek the grace you well may find, 

Without a cause to mine combined ! " 



XXXIII. 

Twice through the hall the Chieftain strode 
The waving of his tartans broad, 
And darken'd brow, where wounded pride 
With ire and disappointment vied, 
Seem'd, by the torch's gloomy light, 
Like the ill Demon of the night, 
Stooping his pinions 1 shadowy sway 
Upon the nighted pilgrim's way; 
But, unrequited Love ! thy dart 
Plunged deepest its envenom'd smart. 
And Roderick, with thine anguish stung, 
At length the hand of Douglas wrung, 
While eyes that mock'd at tears before 
With bitter drops were running o'er. 



90 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto n. 

The death-pangs of long-cherish'd hope 
Scarce in that ample breast had scope, 
But, struggling with his spirit proud, 
Convulsive heaved its checker'd shroud, 
While every sob — so mute were all — 
Was heard distinctly through the hall. 
The son's despair, the mother's look, 
111 might the gentle Ellen brook ; 
She rose, and to her side there came, 
To aid her parting steps, the Graeme. 



xxxiv. 
Then Roderick from the Douglas broke — 
As flashes flame through sable smoke, 
Kindling its wreaths, long, dark, and low, 
To one broad blaze of ruddy glow, 
So the deep anguish of despair 1 
Burst, in fierce jealousy, to air. 
With stalwart grasp his hand he laid 
On Malcolm's breast and belted plaid ; 
" Back, beardless boy!" he sternly said, 
" Back, minion! holdst thou thus at naught 
The lesson I so lately taught? 
This roof, the Douglas, and that maid, 
Thank thou for punishment delay'd." 
Eager as greyhound on his game, 
Fiercely with Roderick grappled Graeme. 2 

1 MS. : " The deep-toned anguish of despair 

Flush'd, in fierce jealousy, to air." 

2 " There is something foppish and out of character in 
Malcolm's rising to lead out Ellen from her own parlor; and 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 9 1 

" Perish my name, if aught afford 

Its Chieftain safety save his sword! 11 

Thus as they strove, their desperate hand 1 

Griped to the dagger or the brand, 

And death had been — but Douglas rose, 

And thrust between the struggling foes 

His giant strength : — " Chieftains, forego ! 

I hold the first who strikes, my foe. 112 

Madmen, forbear your frantic jar! 

What! is the Douglas falPn so far, 

His daughter's hand is deeirfd the spoil 

Of such dishonorable broil ? " 

Sullen and slowly, they unclasp, 3 

As struck with shame, their desperate grasp, 

And each upon his rival glared, 

With foot advanced and blade half bared. 



XXXV. 

Ere yet the brands aloft were flung, 
Margaret on Roderick's mantle hung, 

the sort of wrestling match that takes place between the rival 
chieftains on the occasion is humiliating and indecorous." — 
JEFFREY. 

! MS.: " Thus, as they strove, each better hand 
Grasp'd for the dagger or the brand." 
2 The author has to apologize for the inadvertent appropria- 
tion of a whole line from the tragedy of Douglas, 

" I hold the first who strikes, my foe." , 

— Note to the Second Edition. 
8 MS.: " Sullen and slow the rivals bold 

Loos'd at his hest their desperate hold, 
But either still on other glar'd," etc. 



92 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto n. 

And Malcolm heard his Ellen's scream, 

As falter' d through terrific dream. 

Then Roderick plunged in sheath his sword, 

And veird his wrath in scornful word. 

" Rest safe till morning ; pity 'twere 

Such cheek should feel the midnight air ! * 

1 Hardihood was in every respect so essential to the char- 
acter of a Highlander, that the reproach of effeminacy was 
the most bitter which could be thrown upon him. Yet it was 
sometimes hazarded on what we might presume to think 
slight grounds. It is reported of old Sir Ewen Cameron of 
Lochiel, when upwards of seventy, that he was surprised by 
night on a hunting or military expedition. He wrapped him 
in his plaid, and lay contentedly down upon the snow, with 
which the ground happened to be covered. Among his 
attendants, who were preparing to take their rest in the same 
manner, he observed that one of his grandsons, for his better 
accommodation, had rolled a large snow-ball, and placed it 
below his head. The wrath of the ancient chief was awak- 
ened by a symptom of what he conceived to be degenerate 
luxury. " Out upon thee," said he, kicking the frozen bolster 
from the head which it supported ; " art thou so effeminate as 
to need a pillow ? " The officer of engineers, whose curious 
letters from the Highlands have been more than once quoted, 
tells a similar story of Macdonald of Keppoch, and subjoins 
the following remarks : — " This and many other stories are 
romantick ; but there is one thing, that at first thought might 
seem very romantick, of which I have been credibly assured, 
that when the Highlanders are constrained to lie among the 
hills, in cold, dry, windy weather, they sometimes soak the 
plaid in some river or burn {i.e. brook), and then holding 
up a corner of it a little above their heads, they turn them- 
selves round and round, till they are enveloped by the whole 
mantle. They then lay themselves down on the heath, upon 
the leeward side of some hill, where the wet and the warmth 
of their bodies make a steam, like that of a boiling kettle. 



canto ii.] THE ISLAXB. 93 

Then mayest thou to James Stuart tell 
Roderick will keep the lake and fell, 
Nor lackey, with his freeborn clan, 
The pageant pomp of earthly man. 
More would he of Clan- Alpine know, 
Thou canst our strength and passes show. — 
Malise, what ho! " — his henchman came ; 1 
" Give our safe-conduct to the Graeme." 

The wet, they say, keeps them warm by thickening the stuff, 
and keeping the wind from penetrating. I must confess I 
should have been apt to question this fact, had I not fre- 
quently seen them wet from morning to night, and, even at 
the beginning of the rain, not so much as stir a few yards to 
shelter, but continue in it without necessity, till they were, as 
we say, wet through and through. And that is soon effected 
by the looseness and spunginess of the plaiding; but the 
bonnet is frequently taken off and wrung like a dishclout, and 
then put on again. They have been accustomed from their 
infancy to be often wet, and to take the water like spaniels, 
and this is become a second nature, and can scarcely be 
called a hardship to them, insomuch that I used to say, they 
seemed to be of the duck kind, and to love water as well. 
Though I never saw this preparation for sleep in windy weather, 
yet, setting out early in a morning from one of the huts, I 
have seen the marks of their lodging, where the ground has 
been free from rime or snow, which remained all round the 
spot where they had lain." — Letters from Scotland, Lond., 
1754, 8vo, ii. p. 108. 

1,1 This officer is a sort of secretary, and is to be ready, 
upon all occasions, to venture his life in defence of his master; 
and at drinking-bouts he stands behind his seat, at his haunch, 
from whence his title is derived, and watches the conversation, 
to see if any one offends his patron. An English officer being 
in company with a certain chieftain, and several other High- 
land gentlemen, near Killichumen, had an argument with the 



94 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto ii. 

Young Malcolm answer'd, calm and bold, 
" Fear nothing for thy favorite hold ; 
The spot an angel deigned to grace 
Is bless'd, though robbers haunt the place. 
Thy churlish courtesy for those 
Reserve, who fear to be thy foes. 
As safe to me the mountain way 
At midnight as in blaze of day, 
Though with his boldest at his back 
Even Roderick Dhu beset the track. 
Brave Douglas, — lovely Ellen, — nay, 
Naught here of parting will I say. 
Earth does not hold a lonesome glen, 
So secret, but we meet again. 
Chieftain! we too shall find an hour," 
He said, and left the sylvan bower. 

xxxvi. 
Old Allan follow'd to the strand, 
(Such was the Douglas's command,) 
And anxious told, how, on the morn, 
The stern Sir Roderick deep had sworn, 
The Fiery Cross should circle o'er 
Dale, glen, and valley, down, and moor. 
Much were the peril to the Graeme, 
From those who to the signal came ; 

great man ; and both being well warmed with usky * at last 
the dispute grew very hot. A youth who was henchman, not 
understanding one word of English, imagined his chief was 
insulted, and thereupon drew his pistol from his side, and 
snapped it at the officer's head ; but the pistol missed fire, 
* Whisky. 



canto ii.] THE ISLAND. 95 

Far up the lake 'twere safest land, 

Himself would row him to the strand. 

He gave his counsel to the wind, 

While Malcolm did, unheeding, bind, 

Round dirk and pouch and broadsword roll'd, 

His ample plaid in tighten'd fold, 

And stripp'd his limbs to such array, 

As best might suit the watery way, — 



XXXVII. 

Then spoke abrupt : " Farewell to thee, 

Pattern of old fidelity ! " 

The Minstrel's hand he kindly pressU — 

" O! could I point a place of rest ! 

My sovereign holds in ward my land, 

My uncle leads my vassal band ; . 

To tame his foes his friends to aid, 

Poor Malcolm has but heart and blade. 

Yet, if there be one faithful Graeme, 

Who loves the Chieftain of his name, 

Not long shall honored Douglas dwell 

Like hunted stag in mountain cell ; 

Nor, ere yon pride-swoll'n robber dare, — 

I may not give the rest to air ! 

Tell Roderick Dhu I owed him naught, 

Not the poor service of a boat, 

otherwise it is more than probable he might have suffered 
death from the hand of that little vermin. But it is very dis- 
agreeable to an Englishman over a bottle with the High- 
landers, to see every one ef them have his gilly, that is, his 
servant standing behind him, all the while, let what will be 
the subject of conversation." — Letters from Scotland, ii. 159. 



96 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto 11. 

To waft me to yon mountain-side." 
Then plunged he in the flashing tide. 1 
Bold o'er the flood his head he bore, 
And stoutly steer'd him from the shore ; 
And Allan strain'd his anxious eye, 
Far 'mid the lake his form to spy, 
Darkening across each puny wave, 
To which the moon her silver gave. 
Fast as the cormorant could skim, 
The swimmer plied each active limb ; 
Then landing in the moonlight dell, 
Loud shouted of his weal to tell. 
The minstrel heard the far halloo, 
And joyful from the shore withdrew. 

1 MS. : " He spoke, and plunged into the tide." 



CANTO THIRD. 

2TJie (Satfjmng. 



Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore, 1 

Who danced our infancy upon their knee, 
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store, 

Of their strange ventures happ'd by land or sea, 
How are they blotted from the things that be ! 

How few, all weak and withered of their force, 
Wait on the verge of dark eternity, 

Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse, 
To sweep them from our sight ! Time rolls his cease- 
less course. 

Yet live there still who can remember well, 
How, when a mountain chief his bugle blew, 

Both field and forest, dingle, cliff, and dell, 
And solitary heath, the signal knew; 

1 " There are no separate introductions to the cantos of this 
poem ; but each of them begins with one or two stanzas in 
the measure of Spenser, usually containing some reflections 
connected with the subject about to be entered on ; and writ- 
ten, for the most part, with great tenderness and beauty. The 
following, we think, is among the most striking." — Jeffrey. 

97 



98 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

And fast the faithful clan around him drew, 

What time the warning note was keenly wound, 
What time aloft their kindred banner flew, 

While clamorous war-pipes yell'd the gathering 
sound, 
And while the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor, 
round. 1 



ii. 

The summer dawn's reflected hue 
To purple changed Loch Katrine blue ; 
Mildly and soft the western breeze 
Just kiss'd the lake, just stirr'd the trees, 
And the pleased lake, like maiden coy, 
Trembled but dimpled not for joy ; 
The mountain-shadows on her breast 
Were neither broken nor at rest ; 
In bright uncertainty they lie, 
Like future joys to Fancy's eye. 
The water-lily to the light 
Her chalice rear'd of silver bright ; 
The doe awoke, and to the lawn, 
Begemm'd with dew-drops, led her fawn 
The gray mist left 2 the mountain-side, 
The torrent show'd its glistening pride ; 

1 See Appendix, Note F. 

2 MS. : "The doe awoke, and to the lawn 

Begemm'd with dewdrops, led her fawn, 
Invisible in fleecy cloud, 
The lark sent down her matins loud ; 
The light mist left," etc. 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 99 

Invisible in flecked sky, 

The lark sent down her revelry ; 

The blackbird and the speckled thrush 

Good-morrow gave from brake and bush ; * 

In answer coo'd the cushat dove 

Her notes of peace, and rest, and love. 



III. 

No thought of peace, no thought of rest, 

Assuaged the storm in Roderick's breast. 

With sheathed broadsword in his hand, 

Abrupt he paced the islet strand, 

And eyed the rising sun, and laid 

His hand on his impatient blade. 

Beneath a rock, his vassals 1 care 2 

Was prompt the ritual to prepare, 

With deep and deathful meaning fraught ; 

For such Antiquity had taught 

Was preface meet, ere yet abroad 

The Cross of Fire should take its road. 

The shrinking band stood oft aghast 

At the impatient glance he cast ; — 

Such glance the mountain eagle threw 7 , 

As, from the cliffs of Benvenue, 

She spread her dark sails on the wind, 

And, high in middle heaven reclined, 



" The green hills 



Are clothed with early blossoms ; through the grass 
The quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the bills 
Of summer birds sing welcome as ye pass." — Childe Harold. 
- MS. : " Hard by, his vassals' early care 
The mystic ritual prepare." 



ioo THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

With her broad shadow on the lake, 
Silenced the warblers of the brake. 



A heap of wither'd boughs was piled 

Of juniper and rowan wild, 

Mingled with shivers from the oak, 

Rent by the lightning's recent stroke. 

Brian, the Hermit, by it stood, 

Barefooted, in his frock and hood. 

His grisled beard and matted hair 

Obscured a visage of despair ; 

His naked arms and legs seam'd o'er, 

The scars of frantic penance bore. 

That monk, of savage form and face, 1 

The impending danger of his race 

Had drawn from deepest solitude, 

Far in Benharrow's bosom rude. 

Not his the mien of Christian priest, 

But Druid's, from the grave released, 

Whose harden'd heart and eye might brook 

On human sacrifice to look ; 

And much, 'twas said, of heathen lore 

Mix'd in the charms he mutter'd o'er. 

The hallow'd creed gave only worse 2 

And deadlier emphasis of curse. 

No peasant sought that hermit's prayer, 

His cave the pilgrim shunn'd with care ; 

The eager huntsman knew his bound, 

And in mid chase call'd off his hound ; 

1 See Appendix, Note G. 

2 MS. : " While the bless'd creed gave only worse." 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. ioi 

Or if, in lonely glen or strath, 

The desert-dweller met his path, 

He pray'd and sign'd the cross between, 

While terror took devotion's mien. 1 



v. 
Of Brian's birth strange tales were told. 2 
His mother watch'd a midnight fold, 

1 MS. : " He pray'd with many a cross between, 

And terror took devotion's mien." 

2 The legend which follows is not of the author's invention. 
It is possible he may differ from modern critics, in supposing 
that the records of human superstition, if peculiar to and 
characteristic of the country in which the scene is laid, are a 
legitimate subject of poetry. He gives, however, a ready 
assent to the narrower proposition which condemns all at- 
tempts of an irregular and disordered fancy to excite terror, 
by accumulating a train of fantastic and incoherent horrors, 
whether borrowed from all countries, and patched upon a 
narrative belonging to one which knew them not, or derived 
from the author's own imagination. In the present case, 
therefore, I appeal to the record which I have transcribed, 
with the variation of a very few words, from the geographical 
collections made by the Laird of Macfarlane. I know not 
whether it be necessary to remark, that the miscellaneous 
concourse of youths and maidens on the night and on the 
spot where the miracle is said to have taken place, might, 
even in a credulous age, have somewhat diminished the won- 
der which accompanied the conception of Gilli-Doir-Maghre- 
vollich. 

" There is bot two myles from Inverloghie, the church of 
Kilmalee, in Lochyeld. In ancient tymes there was ane 
church builded upon ane hill, which was above this church, 
which doeth now stand in this toune ; and ancient men doeth 
say, that there was a battell foughten on ane little hill not the 



102 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

Built deep within a dreary glen, 
Where scatter'd lay the bones of men, 
In some forgotten battle slain, 
And bleach'd by drifting wind and rain. 
It might have tamed a warrior's heart x 
To view such mockery of his art ! 

tenth part of a mile from this church, be certaine men which 
they did not know what they were. And long tyme thereafter, 
certaine herds of that toune, and of the next toune, called 
Unnatt, both wenches and youthes, did on a tyme conveen 
with others on that Hill ; and the day being somewhat cold, 
did gather the bones of the dead men that were slayne long 
time before in that place, and did make a fire to warm them. 
At last they did all remove from the fire, except one maid or 
wench, which was verie cold, and she did remain there for a 
space. She being quyetlie her alone, without anie other com- 
panie, took up her cloaths above her knees, or thereby, to 
warm her ; a wind did come and caste the ashes upon her, and 
she was conceived of ane man-chyld. Severall tymes there- 
after she was verie sick, and at last she was knowne to be with 
chyld. And then her parents did ask at her the matter heir- 
off, which the wench could not weel answer which way to sat- 
isfie them. At last she resolved them with ane answer. As 
fortune fell upon her concerning this marvellous miracle, the 
chyld being borne, his name was called Gilli-Doir-Maghre- 
vollich, that is to say, the Black Child, Son to the Bones. So 
called, his grandfather sent him to school, and so he was a 
good schollar, and godlie. He did build this church which 
doeth now stand in Lochyeld, called Kilmalee." — MACFAR- 
LANE, ut supra, ii. 188. 

1 " There is something of pride in the perilous hour, 

Whate'er be the shape in which death may lower; 

For Fame is there to say who bleeds, 

And Honor's eye on daring deeds ! 

But when all is past, it is humbling to tread 

O'er the weltering field of the tombless dead, 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 103 

The knot-grass fetter'd there the hand, 
Which once could burst an iron band ; 
Beneath the broad and ample bone, 
That buckler'd heart to fear unknown, 
A feeble and a timorous guest, 
The field-fare framed her lowly nest ; 
There the slow blind-worm left his slime 
On the fleet limbs that mockM at time ; 
And there, too, lay the leader's skull, 1 
Still wreatlvd with chaplet, flushed and full. 
For heath-bell, with her purple bloom, 
Supplied the bonnet and the plume. 2 

And see worms of the earth, and fowls of the air, 

Beasts of the forest, all gathering there ; 

All regarding man as their prey, 

All rejoicing in his decay." — Byron's Siege of Corinth. 

1 " Remove yon skull from out the scattered heaps. 
Is that a temple where a God may dwell? 
Why, even the worm at last disdains her shattered cell. 

" Look on its broken arch, its ruin'd wall, 
Its chambers desolate, and portals foul : 
Yet this was once Ambition's airy hall, 
The dome of Thought, the palace of the Soul : 
Behold through each lack-lustre, eyeless hole, 
The gay recess of Wisdom and of Wit, 
And Passion's host, that never brook'd control : 
Can all saint, sage, or sophist ever writ, 
People this lonely tower, this tenement refit? " 

Childe Harold. 
2 " These reflections on an ancient field of battle afford the 
most remarkable instance of false taste in all Mr. Scott's writ- 
ings. Yet the brevity and variety of the images serve well to 
shew, that even in his errors there are traces of a powerful 
genius." — Jeffrey. 



104 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

All night, in this sad glen, the maid 
Sate, shrouded in her mantle's shade : 
She said no shepherd sought her side, 
No hunter's hand her snood untied, 
Yet ne'er again to braid her hair 
The virgin snood did Alice wear ; x 
Gone was her maiden glee and sport, 
Her maiden girdle all too short, 
Nor sought she, from that fatal night, 
Or holy church or blessed rite, 
But lock'd her secret in her breast, 
And died in travail, unconfess'd. 



VI. 

Alone among his young compeers, 
Was Brian from his infant years ; 
A moody and heart-broken boy, 
Estranged fronTsympathy and joy, 

1 The snood, or riband, with which a Scottish lass braided 
her hair, had an emblematical signification, and applied to her 
maiden character. It was exchanged for the curch, toy, or 
coif, when she passed, by marriage, into the matron state. 
But if the damsel was so unfortunate as to lose pretensions 
to the name of maiden, without gaining a right to that of 
matron, she was neither permitted to use the snood, nor ad- 
vanced to the graver dignity of the curch. In old Scottish 
songs there occur many sly allusions to such misfortune ; as 
in the old words to the popular tune of" Ower the muir amang 
the heather." 

" Down amang the broom, the broom, 
Down amang the broom, my dearie, 
The lassie lost her silken snood, 

That gard her greet till she was wearie." 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 105 

Bearing each taunt which careless tongue 

On his mysterious lineage flung. 

Whole nights he spent by moonlight pale, 

To wood and stream his hap to wail, 

Till, frantic, he as truth received 1 

What of his birth the crowd believed, 

And sought, in mist and meteor fire, 

To meet and know his Phantom Sire ! 

In vain, to soothe his wayward fate, 

The cloister oped her pitying gate ; 

In vain, the learning of the age 

Unclasp'd the sable-letter'd page : 

Even in its treasures he could find 

Food for the fever of his mind. 

Eager he read whatever tells 

Of magic, cabala, and spells, 

And every dark pursuit allied 

To curious and presumptuous pride ; 

Till with fired brain and nerves o'erstrung, 

And heart with mystic horrors wrung, 

Desperate he sought Benharrow's den, 

And hid him from the haunts of men. 



VII. 

The desert gave him visions wild, 
Such as might suit the spectre's child. 2 

1 MS. : " Till driven to frenzy, he believed 

The legend of his birth received." 

2 In adopting the legend concerning the birth of the 
Founder of the Church of Kilmalee, the author has endeav- 
ored to trace the effects which such a belief was likely to pro- 
duce, in a barbarous age, on the person to whom it related. 



io6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

Where with black cliffs the torrents toil, 

He watch'd the wheeling eddies boil, 

Till, from their foam, his dazzled eyes 

Beheld the River Demon rise ; 

The mountain mist took form and limb, 

Of noontide hag, or goblin grim ; 

The midnight wind came wild and dread, 

SwelPd with the voices of the dead ; 

It seems likely that he must have become a fanatic or an 
impostor, or that mixture of both which forms a more fre- 
quent character than either of them as existing separately. 
In truth, mad persons are frequently more anxious to impress 
upon others a faith in their visions, than they are themselves 
confirmed in their reality ; as, on the other hand, it is difficult 
for the most cool-headed impostor long to personate an enthu- 
siast, without in some degree believing what he is so eager to 
have believed. It was a natural attribute of such a character 
as the supposed hermit, that he should credit the numerous 
superstitions with which the minds of ordinary Highlanders 
are almost always imbued. A few of these are slightly alluded 
to in this stanza. The River Demon, or River-horse, for it is 
that form which he commonly assumes, is the Kelpy of the 
Lowlands, an evil and malicious spirit, delighting to forbode 
and to witness calamity. He frequents most Highland lakes 
and rivers ; and one of his most memorable exploits was per- 
formed upon the banks of Loch Vennachar, in the very dis- 
trict which forms the scene of our action : it consisted in the 
destruction of a funeral procession with all its attendants. 
The " noontide hag," called in Gaelic Glas-lich, a tall, 
emaciated, gigantic female figure, is supposed in particular 
to haunt the district of Knoidart. A goblin dressed in an- 
tique armor, and having one hand covered with blood, 
called from that circumstance, Lham-dearg, or Red-hand, is 
a tenant of the forests of Glenmore and Rothiemurcus. 
Other spirits of the desert, all frightful in shape and malig- 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 137 

Far on the future battle-heath 
His eve beheld the ranks of death : 
Thus the lone Seer, from mankind hurPd, 
Shaped forth a disembodied world. 
One lingering sympathy of mind 
Still bound him to the mortal kind ; 
The only parent he could claim 
Of ancient Alpine's lineage came. 
Late had he heard, in prophet's dream, 
The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream ; x 

nant in disposition, are believed to frequent different moun- 
tains and glens of the Highlands, where any unusual 
appearance, produced by mist, or the strange lights that 
are sometimes thrown upon particular objects, never fails 
to present an apparition to the imagination of the solitary 
and melancholy mountaineer. 

1 MS. : " The fatal Ben-Shie's dismal scream ; 
And seen her wrinkled form, the sign 
Of woe and death to Alpine's line." 

Most great families in the Highlands were supposed to have 
a tutelar, or rather a domestic spirit, attached to them, who 
took an interest in their prosperity, and intimated, by its wail- 
ings, any approaching disaster. That of Grant of Grant was 
called May Moullach, and appeared in the form of a girl, who 
had her arm covered with hair. Grant of Rothiemurcus had 
an attendant called Bodach-an-dun, or the Ghost of the Hill ; 
and many other examples might be mentioned. The Ben- 
Shie implies a female Fairy, whose lamentations were often 
supposed to precede the death of a chieftain of particular 
families. When she is visible, it is in the form of an old 
woman, with a blue mantle and streaming hair. A supersti- 
tion of the same kind is, I believe, universally received by the 
inferior ranks of the native Irish. 

The death of the head of a Highland family is also some- 
times supposed to be announced by a chain of lights of differ- 



10S THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

Sounds, too, that come in midnight blast, 

Of charging steeds, careering fast 

Along Benharrow 1 s shingly side, 

Where mortal horseman ne'er might ride ; x 

The thunderbolt had split the pine, — 

All augur'd ill to Alpine's line. 

He girt his loins, and came to show 

The signals of impending woe, 

And now stood prompt to bless or ban, 

As bade the Chieftain of his clan. 

VIII. 

'Twas all prepar'd ; — and from the rock, 
A goat, the patriarch of the flock, 
Before the kindling pile was laid, 
And pierced by Roderick's ready blade. 
Patient the sickening victim eyed 
The life-blood ebb in crimson tide, 
Down his clogg'd beard and shaggy limb, 
Till darkness glazed his eyeballs dim. 
The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer, 
A slender crosslet fram'd with care, 
A cubit's length in measure due ; 
The shaft and limbs were rods of yew, 
Whose parents in Inch-Cailliach wave 2 
Their shadows o'er Clan-Alpine's grave, 

ent colors, called Dreug, or death of the Druid. The direc- 
tion which it takes, marks the place of the funeral. See the 
Essay on Fairy Superstitions in the Border Minstrelsy. 

1 See Appendix, Note H. 

2 Inch-Cailliach, the Isle of Nuns, or of Old Women, is a 
most beautiful island at the lower extremity of Loch Lomond. 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 109 

And answering Lomond's breezes deep, 
Soothe many a chieftain's endless sleep. 
The Cross, thus form'd he held on high, 
With wasted hand, and haggard eye, 
And strange and mingled feelings woke, 
While his anathema he spoke : — 



IX. 

"Woe to the clansman, who shall view 
This symbol of sepulchral yew, 
'• Forgetful that its branches grew 

Where weep the heavens their holiest dew 

On Alpine's dwelling low ! 
Deserter of his Chieftain's trust, 
He ne'er shall mingle with their dust, 

The church belonging to the former nunnery was long used. as 
the place of worship for the parish of Buchanan, but scarce 
any vestiges of it now remain. The burial-ground continues 
to be used, and contains the family places of sepulture of 
several neighboring clans. The monuments of the lairds of 
Macgregor, and of other families, claiming a descent from the 
old Scottish King Alpine, are most remarkable. The High- 
landers are as zealous of their rights of sepulture as mav be 
expected from a people whose whole laws and government, if 
clanship can be called so, turned upon the single principle of 
family descent. "May his ashes be scattered on the water," 
was one of the deepest and most solemn imprecations which 
they used against an enemy. See a detailed description of 
the funeral ceremonies of a Highland chieftain in the " Fair 
Maid of Perth," Waver ley Novels, vol. 43, chaps, x. arid xi. 
New Edit. 



HO THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto m. 

But, from his sires and kindred thrust, 
Each clansman's execration just x 

Shall doom him wrath and woe." 
He paused ; — the word the vassals took, 
With forward step and fiery look, 
On high their naked brands they shook, 
Their clattering targets wildly strook ; 2 

And first in murmur low, 
Then, like the billow in his course, 
That far to seaward finds his source, 
And flings to shore his muster'd force, 
Burst, with loud roar, their answer hoarse, 

" Woe to the traitor, woe!" 
Ben-an's gray scalp the accents knew, 
The joyous wolf from covert drew, 
The exulting eagle scream'd afar, — 
They knew the voice of Alpine's war. 



x. 

The shout was hush'd on lake and fell, 
The monk resumed his mutter'd spell : 
Dismal and low its accents came, 
The while he scathed the Cross with flame ; 
And the few words that reach'd the air, 
Although the holiest name was there, 3 
Had more of blasphemy than prayer. 

1 MS. : " Our warriors, on his worthless bust, 

Shall speak disgrace and woe." 

2 MS. : " Their clattering targets hardly strook : 

And first they mutter d low." 
8 MS. : " Although the holy name was there." 



canto ill.] THE GA THERING. 1 1 1 

But when he shook above the crowd 
Its kindled points, he spoke aloud : — 
" Woe to the wretch who fails to rear 
At this dread sign the ready spear ! 
For, as the flames this symbol sear, 
His home, the refuge of his fear, 

A kindrec} fate shall know ; 
Far o'er its roof the volumed flame 
Clan-Alpine's vengeance shall proclaim, 
While maids and matrons on his name 
Shall call clown wretchedness and shame, 

And infamy and woe.' 1 
Then rose* the cry of females, shrill 
As goshawk's whistle on the hill, 
Denouncing misery and ill, 
Mingled with childhood's babbling trill 

Of curses stammer'd slow ; 
Answering, with imprecation dread, 
" Sunk be his home in embers red ! 
And cursed be the meanest shed 
That e'er shall hide the houseless head 

We doom to want and woe ! " 
A sharp and shrieking echo gave, 
Coir-Uriskin, thy goblin cave ! 
And the gray pass where birches wave, 

On Beala-nam-bo. 

XI. 

Then deeper paused the priest anew, 
And hard his laboring breath he drew, 
While, with set teeth and clenched hand, 
And eyes that glow'd like fiery brand, 



1 1 2 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

He meditated curse more dread, 

And deadlier, on the clansman's head, 

Who, summon'd to his Chieftain's aid, 

The signal saw and disobey'd. 

The crosslet's points of sparkling wood 

He quench'd among the bubbling blood, 

And, as again the sign he rear'd, 

Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard : 

" When flits this Cross from man to man, 

Vich- Alpine's summons to his clan, 

Burst be the ear that fails to heed ! 

Palsied the foot that shuns to speed ! 

May ravens tear the careless eyes* 

Wolves make the coward heart their prize ! 

As sinks that blood-stream in the earth, 

So may his heart's-blood drench his hearth ! 

As dies in hissing gore the spark, 

Quench thou his light, Destruction dark ! 

And be the grace to him denied, 

Bought by this sign to all beside ! " 

He ceased ; no echo gave again 

The murmur of the deep Amen. 1 

XII. 

Then Roderick, with impatient look, 

From Brian's hand the symbol took ; 

" Speed, Malise, speed !" he said, and gave 

The crosslet to his henchman brave. 

" The muster-place be Lanrick mead — 2 

Instant the time — speed, Malise, speed !" 

1 MS. : " The slowly mutter d deep Amen." 

2 MS. : " Murlagan is the spot decreed." 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 1 13 

Like heath-bird, when the hawks pursue, 
A barge across Loch Katrine flew ; 
High stood the henchman on the prow; 
So rapidly the barge-men row, 
The bubbles, where they launched the boat, 
Were all unbroken and afloat, 
Dancing in foam and ripple still, 
When it had near'd the mainland hill ; 
And from the silver beach's side 
Still was the prow three fathom wide, 
When lightly bounded to the land 
This messenger of blood and brand. 



XIII. 

Speed, Malise, speed ! the dun deer's hide 1 
On fleeter foot was never tied. 
Speed, Malise, speed ! such cause of haste 
Thine active sinews never braced. 

1 The present brogue of the Highlanders is made of half- 
dried leather, with holes to admit and let out the water; for 
walking the moors dry-shod is a matter altogether out of 
question. The ancient buskin was still ruder, being made of 
undressed deer's hide, with the hair outwards : a circumstance 
which procured the Highlanders the well-known epithet of 
Red-shanks. The process is very accurately described by one 
Elder (himself a Highlander) in the project for a union be- 
tween England and Scotland, addressed to Henry VIII. "We 
go a-hunting, and after that we have slain red-deer, we flay off 
the skin by and by, and setting of our bare-foot on the inside 
thereof, for want of cunning shoemakers, by your grace's par- 
don, we play the cobblers, compassing and measuring so 
much thereof as shall reach up to our ankles, pricking the 
upper part thereof with holes, that the water may repass where 



H4 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto hi. 

Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast, 
Burst down like torrent from its crest ; 
With short and springing footstep pass 
The trembling bog and false morass ; 
Across the brook like roebuck bound, 
And thread the break like questing hound ; 
The crag is high, the scaur is deep, 
Yet shrink not from the desperate leap : 
Parch'd are thy burning lips and brow, 
Yet by the fountain pause not now ; 
Herald of battle, fate, and fear, 1 
Stretch onward in thy fleet career ! 
The wounded hind thou track'st not now, 
Pursuest not maid through greenwood bough, 
Nor pliest thou now thy flying pace, 
With rivals in the mountain race ; 
But danger, death, and warrior deed 
Are in thy course — speed, Malise, speed ! 

XIV. 

Fast as the fatal symbol flies, 

In arms the huts and hamlets rise; 

it enters, and stretching it up with a strong thong of the same 
above our said ankles. So, and please your noble grace, we 
make our shoes. Therefore, we using such manner of shoes, 
the rough hairy side outwards, in your grace's dominions of 
England, we be called Roughfooted Scots." — PlNKERTON'S 
History, vol. ii. p. 397. 

1 MS. : " Dread messenger of fate and fear, ) 
Herald of danger, fate and fear, i 
Stretch onward in thy fleet career ! 
Thou track'st not now the stricken doe, 
Nor maiden coy through greenwood bough." 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 115 

From winding glen, from upland brown, 
They pourM each hardy tenant down. 
Nor slack'd the messenger his pace ; 
He show'd the sign, he named the place, 
And, pressing forward like the wind, 
Left clamor and surprise behind. 1 
The fisherman forsook the strand, 
The swarthy smith took dirk and brand ; 
With changed cheer, the mower blithe 
Left in the half-cut swathe the scythe ; 
The herds without a keeper strayxl, 
The plough was in mid-furrow stayed, 
The falconer toss'd his hawk away, 
The hunter left the stag at bay ; 
Prompt at the signal of alarms, 
Each son of Alpine rush'd to arms 5 
So swept the tumult and affray 
Along the margin of Achray. 
Alas, thou lovely lake ! that e'er 
Thy banks should echo sounds of fear ! 
The rocks, the bosky thickets, sleep 
So stilly on thy bosom deep, 
The lark's blithe carol, from the cloud, 
Seems for the scene too gayly loud. 2 

xv. 
Speed, Malise, speed! the lake is past, 
Duncraggan's huts appear at last, 

1 " The description of the starting of the Fiery Cross bears 
more marks of labor than most of Mr. Scott's poetry, and 
borders, perhaps, upon straining and exaggeration ; yet it 
shows great power." — Jeffrey. 

2 MS. : "Seems all too lively and too loud." 



n6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto ill. 

And peep, like moss-grown rocks, half seen, 
Half hidden in the copse so green ; 
There mayst thou rest, thy labor done, 
Their Lord shall speed the signal on. — 
As stoops the hawk upon his prey, 
The henchman shot him down the way. 
- What woeful accents load the gale? 
The funeral yell, the female wail ! x 
A gallant hunter's sport is o'er, 
A valiant warrior fights no more. 
Who, in the battle or the chase, 
At Roderick's side shall fill his place ! — 
Within the hall, where torches' ray 
Supplies the excluded beams of day, 
Lies Duncan on his lowly bier, 
And o'er him streams his widow's tear. 
His stripling son stands mournful by, 
His youngest weeps, but knows not why ! 
The village maids and matrons round 
The dismal coronach resound. 2 



XVI. 
CORONACH. 

He is gone on the mountain, 
He is lost to the forest, 

1 MS.: "'Tis woman's scream, 'tis childhood's wail." 

2 The Coronach of the Highlanders, like the Ululatus of the 
Romans and the Ululoo of the Irish, was a wild expression of 
lamentation, poured forth by the mourners over the body of a 
departed friend. When the words of it were articulate, they 
expressed the praises of the deceased, and the loss the clan 



CANTO in.] THE GATHERING. n 7 

Like a summer-dried fountain, 

When our need was the sorest. 
The font, reappearing, 

From the rain-drops shall borrow, 
But to us comes no cheering, 

To Duncan no morrow ! 

would sustain by his death. The following is a lamentation of 
this kind, literally translated from the Gaelic, to some of the 
ideas of which the text stands indebted. The tune is so popu- 
lar that it has since become the war-march, or Gathering of 
the clan. 

Coronach on Sir Lauchlan, Chief ' oj 'Maclean. 

" Which of all the Senachies 

Can trace thy line from the root up to Paradise, 

But Macvuirih, the son of Fergus? 

No sooner had thine ancient stately tree 

Taken firm root in Albin, 

Than one of thy forefathers fell at Harlaw. 

'Twas then we lost a chief of deathless name. 

" 'Tis no base weed — no planted tree, 
Nor a seedling of last Autumn; 
Nor a sapling planted at Beltain; * 
Wide, wide around were spread its lofty branches — 
But the topmost bow is lowly laid! 
Thou hast forsaken us before Sawaine.f 

" Thy dwelling is the winter house; — 
Loud, sad, and mighty is thy death-song! 
Oh! courteous champion of Montrose! 
Oh! stately warrior of the Celtic Isles! 
Thou shalt buckle thy harness on no more! " 

The coronach has for some time past been superseded at 
funerals by the use of the bagpipe ; and that also is, like many 
other Highland peculiarities, falling into disuse unless in re- 
mote districts. 

Bell's fire, or Whitsunday. t Hallowe'en. 



tidi: 

r 



n8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

The hand of the reaper 

Takes the ears that are hoary, 
But the voice of the weeper 

Wails manhood in glory. 
The autumn winds rushing 

Waft the leaves that are searest, 
But our flower was in flushing, 

When blighting was nearest. 

Fleet foot on the correi, 1 

Sage counsel in cumber, 
Red hand in the foray, 

How sound is thy slumber! 
Like the dew on the mountain, 

Like the foam on the river, 
Like the bubble on the fountain, 

Thou art gone, and for ever ! 2 

1 Or corri. The hollow side of the hill, where game usually 
lies. 

2 " Mr. Scott is such a master of versification that the most 
complicated metre does not for an instant arrest the progress 
of his imagination ; its difficulties usually operate as a salutary 
excitement to his attention, and not unfrequently suggest to him 
new and unexpected graces of expression. If a careless rhyme 
or an ill-constructed phrase occasionally escape him amidst the 
irregular torrent of his stanza, the blemish is often imperceptible 
by the hurried eye of the reader; but when the short lines»are 
yoked in pairs, any dissonance in the jingle, or interruption of 
the construction, cannot fail to give offence. We learn from 
Horace, that in the course of a long work, a poet may legiti- 
mately indulge in a momentary slumber; but we do not wish 
to hear him snore." — Quarterly Review. 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 

XVII. 

See Stumah, 1 who, the bier beside, 
His master's corpse with wonder eyed, 
Poor Stumah ! whom his least halloo 
Could send like lightning o'er the dew, 
Bristles his crest, and points his ears, 
As if some stranger step he hears. 
'Tis not a mourner's muffled tread, 
Who comes to sorrow o'er the dead, 
But headlong haste, or deadly fear, 
Urge the precipitate career. 
All stand aghast : — unheeding all, 
The henchman bursts into the hall ; 
Before the dead man's bier he stood ; 
Held forth the Cross besmear'd with blood : 
" The muster-place is Lanrick mead ; 
Speed forth the signal ! clansmen, speed ! " 

XVIII. 

Angus, the heir of Duncan's line, 2 
Sprung forth and seized the fatal sign. 
In haste the stripling to his side 
His father's dirk and broadsword tied ; 
But when he saw his mother's eye 
Watch him in speechless agony, 

1 Faithful. The name of a dog. 

2 MS. : " Angus, the first of Ducan's line, 

Sprung forth and seized the fatal sign, 
And then upon his kinsman's bier 
Fell Malise's suspended tear. 
In haste the stripling to his side 
His father's targe and falchion tied." 



120 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

Back to her open'd arms he flew, 

Press'd on her lips a fond adieu — 

" Alas ! " she sobb'd, — " and yet, be gone 

And speed thee forth, like Duncan's son ! " 

One look he cast upon the bier; 

Dash'd from his eye the gathering tear, 

Breathed deep to clear his laboring breast, 

And toss'd aloft his bonnet crest, 

Then, like the high-bred colt, when, freed, 

First he essays his fire and speed, 

He vanish'd, and o'er moor and moss 

Sped forward with the Fiery Cross. 

Suspended was the widow's tear, 

While yet his footsteps she could hear ; 

And when she mark'd the henchman's eye 

Wet with unwonted sympathy, 

" Kinsman," she said, " his race is run, 

That should have sped thine errand on ; 

The oak has fall'n — the sapling bough 

Is all Duncraggan's shelter now. 

Yet trust I well, his duty done, 

The orphan's God will guard my son. — 

And you, in many a danger true, 

At Duncan's hest your blades that drew, 

To arms, and guard that orphan's head ! 

Let babes and women wail the dead." 

Then weapon-clang and martial call 

Resounded through the funeral hall, 

While from the walls the attendant band 

Snatch'd sword and targe, with hurried hand ; 

And short and flitting energy 

Glanced from the mourner's sunken eye, 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. I 

As if the sounds to warrior dear 

Might rouse her Duncan from his bier. 

But faded soon that borrow'd force ; 

Grief claim'd his right, and tears their course. 



Beriledi saw the Cross of Fire, 
It glanced like lightning up Strath-Ire. 1 
O'er dale and hill the summons flew, 
Nor rest nor pause young Angus knew ; 

1 Inspection of the provincial map of Perthshire, or any 
large map of Scotland, will trace the progress of the signal 
through the small districts of lakes and mountains, which, in 
exercise of my poetical privilege, I have subjected to the 
authority of my imaginary chieftain, and which, at the period 
of my romance, was really occupied by a clan who claimed a 
descent from Alpine, a clan the most unfortunate, and most 
persecuted, but neither the least distinguished, least powerful, 
nor least brave, of the tribes of the Gael. 

" Slioch non vioghridh duchaisach 
Bha-shios an Dun-Staiobhinish 
Aig an roubh crun na Halba othus 
'Stag a cheil duchas fast ris." 

The first stage of the Fiery Cross is to Duncraggan, a place 
near the Brigg of Turk, where a short stream divides Loch 
Archray from Loch Vennachar. From thence, it passes 
towards Callender, and then, turning to the left up the pass 
of Leny, is consigned to Norman at the chapel of Saint Bride, 
which stood on a small and romantic knoll, in the middle of 
the valley, called Strath- 1 re. Tombea and Arnandave, or 
Ardmandave, are names of places in the vicinity. The 
alarm is then supposed to pass along the lake of Lubnaig, 
and through the various glens in the district of Balquidder, 
including the neighboring tracts of Glenfinlas and Strath- 
Gartney. 



122 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

The tear that gathered in his eye 

He left the mountain breeze to dry ; 

Until, where Teith's young waters roll, 

Betwixt him and a wooded knoll, 1 

That graced the sable strath with green, 

The chapel of St. Bride was seen. 

Swoln was the stream, remote the bridge, 

But Angus paused not on the edge ; 

Though the dark waves danced dizzily, 

Though reePd his sympathetic eye, 

He dash'd amid the torrent's roar : 

His right hand high the crosslet bore, 

His left the pole-axe grasp'd, to guide 

And stay his footing in the tide. 

He stumbled twice ; — the foam splash'd high, 

With hoarser swell the stream raced by ; 

And had he falPn, — forever there, 

Farewell Duncraggan's orphan heir ! 

But still, as if in parting life, | 

Firmer he grasp'd the Cross of strife, 

Until the opposing bank he gain'd, 

And up the chapel pathway strain'd. 



A blithesome rout, that morning tide, 
Had sought the chapel of St. Bride. 
Her troth Tombea's Mary gave 
To Norman, heir of Armandave, 
And, issuing from the Gothic arch, 
The bridal now resumed their march. 

1 MS. : " And where a steep and wooded knoll 

Graced the dark strath with emerald green. 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 123 

I n rude but glad procession came 
Bonneted sire and coif-clad dame ; 
And plaided youth, with jest and jeer, 
Which snooded maiden would not hear ; 
And children, that, unwitting why, 
Lent the gay shout their shrilly cry; 
And minstrels, that in measures vied 
Before the young and bonny bride, 
Whose downcast eye and cheek disclose 
The tear and blush of morning rose. 
With virgin step, and bashful hand, 
She held the kerchiefs snowy band ; 
The gallant bridegroom by her side, 
Beheld his prize with victor's pride, 
And the glad mother in her ear 
Was closely whispering words of cheer. 

XXI. 

Who meets them at the churchyard gate ? 

The messenger of fear and fate ! 

Haste in his hurried accent lies, 

And grief is swimming in his eyes. 

All dripping from the recent flood, 

Panting and travel-soil'd he stood, 

The fatal sign of fire and sword 

Held forth, and spoke the appointed word : 

"The muster-place is Lanrick mead; 

Speed forth the signal ! Norman, speed !" 

And must he change so soon the hand, 1 

Just link'd to his by holy band, 

For the fell Cross of blood and brand? 

1 MS. : ".And must he then exchange the hand." 



124 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

And must the day, so blithe that rose, 

And promised rapture in the close, 

Before its setting hour, divide 

The bridegroom from the plighted bride ? 

O fatal doom ! — it must ! it must ! 

Clan- Alpine's cause, her Chieftain's trust, 

Her summons dread, brook no delay ; 



XXII. 

Yet slow he laid his plaid aside, 
And lingering eyed his lovely bride, 
Until he saw the starting tear 
Speak woe he might not stop to cheer ; 
Then, trusting not a second look, 
In haste he sped him up the brook, 
Nor backward glanced, till on the heath 
Where Lubnaig's lake supplies the Teith. 
— What in the racer's bosom stirr'd ? 
The sickening pang of hope deferr'd, 
And memory, with a torturing train, 1 
Of all his morning visions vain. 
Mingled with love's impatience, came 
The manly thirst for martial fame ; 
The stormy joy of mountaineers, 
Ere yet they rush upon the spears ; 



1 MS. : " And memory brought the torturing train 
Of all his morning visions vain ; 
But mingled with impatience came 
The manly love of martial fame." 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. 125 

And zeal for Clan and Chieftain burning, 
And hope, from well-fought field returning, 
With war's red honors on his crest, 
To clasp his Mary to his breast. 
Stung by such thoughts, o'er bank and brae, 
Like fire from flint he glanced away, 
While high resolve, and feeling strong, 
Burst into voluntary song. 



XXIII. 
SONG. 

The heath this night must be my bed, 
The bracken 1 curtain for my head, 
My lullaby the warder's tread, 

Far, far, from love and thee, Mary 
To-morrow eve, more stilly laid, 
My couch may be my bloody plaid, 
My vesper song, thy wail, sweet maid ! 

It will not waken me, Mary! 
I may not, dare not, fancy now 2 
The grief that clouds thy lovely brow, 
I dare not think upon thy vow, 

And all it promised me, Mary. 
No fond regret must Norman know. 
When bursts Clan-Alpine on the foe, 
His heart must be like bended bow, 

His foot like arrow free, Mary. 



1 Bracken. — Fern. 

- MS. : " I may not, dare not, image now." 



126 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

A time will come with feeling fraught, 
For, if I fall in battle fought, 
Thy hapless lover's dying thought 

Shall be a thought on thee, Mary. 1 
And if return'd from conquer 1 d foes, 
How blithely will the evening close, 
How sweet the linnet sing repose, 

To my young bride and me, Mary ! 

XXIV. 

Not faster o'er thy heather} 7 braes, 
Balquidder, speeds the midnight blaze, 2 
Rushing, in conflagration strong, 
Thy deep ravines and dells along, 
Wrapping thy cliffs in purple glow, 
And reddening the dark lakes below ; 
Nor faster speeds it, nor so far, 
As o'er thy heaths the voice of war. 3 

1 MS. : "A time will come for love and faith, 

For should thy bridegroom yield his breath, 
'Twill cheer him in the hour of death, 
The boasted right to thee, Mary." 

2 It may be necessary to inform the southern reader that 
the heath on the Scottish moorlands is often set fire to, that 
the sheep may have the advantage of the young herbage pro- 
duced, in room of the tough old heather plants. This cus- 
tom (execrated by sportsmen) produces occasionally the most 
beautiful nocturnal appearances, similar almost to the dis- 
charge of a volcano. This simile is not new to poetry. The 
charge of a warrior, in the fine ballad of Hardyknute, is said 
to be " like fire to heather set." 

3 " The eager fidelity with which this fatal signal is hurried 
on and obeyed is represented with great spirit and felicity." 
— Jeffrey. 



c A NT< > 1 1 1 . ] THE GA THE RING. 1 2 7 

The signal roused to martial coil 

The sullen margin of Loch Voil, 

Waked still Loch Doine, and to the source 

Alarnrd, Balvaig, thy swampy course ; 

Then southward turn'd its rapid road 

Adown Strath-Gartney's valley broad, 

Till rose in arms each man might claim 

A portion in Clan-Alpine's name, 

From the gray sire, whose trembling hand 

Could hardly buckle on his brand, 

To the raw boy, whose shaft and bow 

Were yet scarce terror to the crow. 

Each valley, each sequester'd glen, 

Muster'd its little horde of men, 

That met as torrents from the height 

In Highland dales their streams unite. 

Still gathering, as they pour along, 

A voice more loud, a tide more strong, 

Till at the rendezvous they stood 

By hundreds prompt for blows and blood ; 

Each train'd to arms since life began, 

Owning no tie but to his clan, 

No oath, but by his chieftain's hand, 

No law, but Roderick Dhu's command. 1 



1 The deep and implicit respect paid by the Highland 
clansmen to their chief, rendered this both a common and 
a solemn oath. In other respects they were like most savage 
nations, capricious in their ideas concerning the obligatory 
power of oaths. One solemn mode of swearing was by kiss- 
ing the dirk, imprecating upon themselves death by that, or a 
similar weapon, if they broke their vow. But for oaths in the 
usual foim they are said to have paid little respect. As for the 



128 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

XXV. 

That summer morn had Roderick Dhu, 
Survey'd the skirts of Benvenue, 
And sent his scouts o'er hill and heath, 
To view the frontiers of Menteith. 
And backward came with news of truce ; 
Still lay each martial Graeme and Bruce, 
In Rednoch courts no horsemen wait, 
No banner waved on Cardross gate, 
On Duchray's towers no beacon shone, 
Nor scared the herons from Loch Con ; 
All seem'd at peace. — Now, wot ye why 
The Chieftain, with such anxious eye, 

reverence due to the chief, it may be guessed from the follow- 
ing odd example of a Highland point of honor : — 

"The clan whereto the above-mentioned tribe belongs is 
the only one I have heard of which is without a chief; that is, 
being divided into families, under several chieftains, without 
any particular patriarch of the whole name. And this is a 
great reproach, as may appear from an affair that fell out at 
my table, in the Highlands, between one of that name and a 
Cameron. The provocation given by the latter was — ' Name 
your chief.' — The return of it at once was, — ' You are a fool.' 
They went out next morning, but having early notice of it, I 
sent a small party of soldiers after them, which, in all proba- 
bility, prevented some barbarous mischief that might have 
ensued ; for the chiefless Highlander, who is himself a petty 
chieftain, was going to the place appointed with a small-sword 
and a pistol, whereas the Cameron (an old man) took with 
him only his broadsword, according to the agreement. 

" When all was over, and I had, at least seemingly, recon- 
ciled them, I was told the words, of which I seemed to think 
but slightly, were, to one of the clan, the greatest of all provo- 
cations." — Letters from Scotland, vol. ii. p. 221. 



CANTO III.] THE GATHERING. 129 

Ere to the muster he repair, 

This western frontier scann'd with care ? — 

In Benvenue's most darksome cleft, 

A fair, though cruel, pledge was left ; 

For Douglas, to his promise true, 

That morning from the isle withdrew, 

And in deep sequester'd dell 

Had sought a low and lonely cell. 

By many a bard, in Celtic tongue, 

Has Coir-nan-Uriskin been sung : x 



1 This is a very steep and most romantic hollow in the 
mountain of Benvenue, overhanging the southeastern ex- 
tremity of Loch Katrine. It is surrounded with stupendous 
rocks, and overshadowed with birch trees, mingled with oaks, 
the spontaneous production of the mountain, even where its 
cliffs appear denuded of soil. A dale in so wild a situation, 
and amid a people whose genius bordered on the romantic, 
did not remain without appropriate deities. The name liter- 
ally implies the Corri, or Den, of the Wild or Shaggy Men. 
Perhaps this, as conjectured by Mr. Alexander Campbell* 
may have originally only implied its being the haunt of a 
ferocious banditti. But tradition has ascribed to the Urisk, 
who gives name to the cavern, a figure between a goat and 
a man ; in short, however much the classical reader may be 
startled, precisely that of the Grecian Satyr. The Urisk 
seems not to have inherited, with the form, the petulance 
of the sylvan deity of the classics : his occupation on the 
contrary, resembled those of Milton's Lubber-Fiend, or of 
the Scottish Brownie, though he differed from both in name 
and appearance. " The Urisks," says Dr. Graham, " were a 
set of lubberly supernaturals, who, like the Brownies, could 
be gained over, by kind attention, to perform the drudgery of 
the farm, and it was believed that many of the families in the 

* Journey from Edinburgh, 1802, p. 108. 



13° THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto hi. 

A softer name the Saxons gave, 
And calPd the grot the Goblin-cave. 



XXVI. 

It was a wild and strange retreat, 
As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet. 
The dell upon the mountain crest, 
Yawn'd like a gash on warrior's breast ; 
Its trench had stay'd full many a rock, 
HurPd by primeval earthquake shock 
From Benvenue's gray summit wild ; 
And here, in random ruin piled, 
They frown'd incumbent o'er the spot, 
And form'd the rugged sylvan grot. 1 

Highlands had one of the order attached to it. They were 
supposed to be dispersed over the Highlands, each in his own 
wild recess, but the solemn stated meetings of the order were 
regularly held in this Cave of Benvenue. This current super- 
stition, no doubt, alludes to some circumstance in the ancient 
history of this country." — Scenery on the Southern Confines 
of Perthshire, p. 19, 1806. It must be owned that the Coir, 
or Den, does not, in its present state, meet our ideas of a sub- 
terraneous grotto, or cave, being only a small and narrow 
cavity, among huge fragments of rocks rudely piled together. 
But such a scene is liable to convulsions of nature which a 
Lowlander cannot estimate, and which may have choked up 
what was originally a cavern. At least the name and tradition 
warrant the author of a fictitious tale to assert its having been 
such at the remote period in which this scene is laid. 

1 " After landing on the skirts of Benvenue, we reach the 
cave (or more properly the cove) of the goblins, by a steep 
and narrow defile of a few hundred yards in length. It is 
a deep, circular amphitheatre of at least six hundred yards of 
extent in its upper diameter, gradually narrowing towards the 



ca m o 1 1 1 . ] THE GA T BERING. 1 3 1 

The oak and birch, with mingled shade, 
At noontide there a twilight made, 
Unless when short and sudden shone 
Some straggling beam on cliff or stone, 
With such a glimpse as prophet's eye 
Gains on thy depth, Futurity. 
No murmur waked the solemn still, 
Save tinkling of a fountain rill ; 
But when the wind chafed with the lake, 
A sullen sound would upward break, 
With dashing hollow voice that spoke 
The incessant war of wave and rock. 
Suspended cliffs, with hideous sway, 
Seem'd nodding o'er the cavern gray. 
From such a den the wolf had sprung, 
In such the wild-cat leaves her young; 
Yet Douglas and his daughter fair 
Sought for a space their safety there. 
Gray Superstition's whisper dread 
Debarr'd the spot to vulgar tread ; 
For there, she said, did fays resort, 
And satyrs 1 hold their sylvan court, 

base, hemmed in all round by steep and towering rocks, and 
rendered impenetrable to the rays of the sun by a close covert 
of luxuriant trees. On the south and west it is bounded by 
the precipitous shoulder of Benvenue, to the height of at least 
five hundred feet ; towards the east, the rock appears at some 
former period to have tumbled down, strewing the whole 
course of its fall with immense fragments, which now serve 
only to give shelter to foxes, wild-cats, and badgers." — Dr. 
Graham. 

1 The Urisk, or Highland satyr. See a previous Note, 
p. 129. 



132 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto ill. 

By moonlight tread their mystic maze, 
And blast the rash beholder's gaze. 



XXVII. 

Now eve, with western shadows long, 
Floated on Katrine bright and strong, 
When Roderick, with a chosen few, 
Repass'd the heights of Benvenue. 
Above the Goblin Cave they go, 
Through the wild pass of Beal-nam-bo ; x 
The prompt retainers speed before, 
To launch the shallop from the shore, 
For 'cross Loch Katrine lies his way 
To view the passes of Achray, 
And place his clansmen in array. 
Yet lags the chief in musing mind, 
Unwonted sight, his men behind, 
A single page, to bear his sword, 
Alone attended on his lord ; 2 

1 Bealach-nam-bo, or the pass of cattle, is a most magnifi- 
cent glade, overhung with aged birch-trees, a little higher up 
the mountain than the Coir-nan-Uriskin, treated of in a for- 
mer note. The whole composes the most sublime piece of 
scenery that imagination can conceive. 

2 A Highland chief, being as absolute in his patriarchal 
authority as any prince, had a corresponding number of offi- 
cers attached to his person. He had his body-guards, called 
Luichttach, picked from his clan for strength, activity, and 
entire devotion to his person. These, according to their 
deserts, were sure to share abundantly in the rude profusion 
of his hospitality. It is recorded, for example, by tradition, 
that Allan MacLean, chief of that clan, happened upon a 
time to hear one of these favorite retainers observe to his 



can i . ) in. ] THE GA THERING. 133 

The rest their way through thickets break, 

And soon await him by the lake. 

It was a fair and gallant sight, 

To view them from the neighboring height, 

By the low-levell'd sunbeam's light ! 



comrade, that their chief grew old. " Whence do you infer 
that? " replied the other. " When was it," rejoined the first, 
" that a soldier of Allan's was obliged, as I am now, not only 
to eat the flesh from the bone, but even to tear off the inner 
skin, or filament? " The hint was quite sufficient, and Mac- 
Lean next morning, to relieve his followers from such dire 
necessity, undertook an inroad on the mainland, the ravage 
of which altogether effaced the memory of his former expe- 
ditions for the like purpose. 

Our officer of Engineers, so often quoted, has given us a 
distinct list of the domestic officers who, independent of 
Luichttach, or gardes de corps, belonged to the establishment 
of a Highland Chief. These are : 1. The Henchman. (See 
these notes, p. 93.) 2. The Bard. (Seep. 54.) 3. B/adier, or 
spokesman. 4. Gillie-more, or sword-bearer, alluded to in 
the text. 5. Gillie-casfiue, who carried the chief, if on foot, 
over the fords. 6. Gillie-comstraine, who leads the chiefs 
horse. 7. Gillie- Trushanarinsh, the baggage-man. 8. The 
piper. 9. The piper's gillie or attendant, who carries the 
bagpipe* Although this appeared, naturally enough, very 
ridiculous to an English officer, who considered the master of 
such a retinue as no more than an English gentleman of ^500 
a year, yet in the circumstances of the chief, whose strength 
and importance consisted in the number and attachment of 
his followers, it was of the last consequence, in point of policy, 
to have in his gift subordinate offices, which called immediately 
round his person those who were most devoted to him, and, 
being of value in their estimation, were also the means of 
rewarding them. 

* Letters from Scotland, vol. ii. p. 15. 



134 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto hi. 

For strength and stature, from the clan 
Each warrior was a chosen man, 
As even afar might well be seen, 
By their proud step and martial mien. 
Their feathers dance, their tartans float, 
Their targets gleam, as by the boat 
A wild and warlike group they stand, 
That well became such mountain-strand. 



XXVIII. 

Their Chief with step reluctant still 
Was lingering on the craggy hill, 
Hard by where turn'd apart the road 
To Douglas's obscure abode. 
It was but with that dawning morn 
That Roderick Dhu had proudly sworn 
To drown his love in war's wild roar, 1 
Nor think of Ellen Douglas more ; 
But he who stems a stream with sand, 
And fetters flame with flaxen band, 
Has yet a harder task to prove, — 
By firm resolve to conquer love ! 
Eve finds the Chief, like restless ghost, 
Still hovering near his treasure lost ; 
For though his haughty heart deny 
A parting meeting to his eye, 
Still fondly strains his anxious ear 
The accents of her voice to hear, 

1 MS. : " To drown his grief in war's wild roar, 
Nor think of love and Ellen more." 



canto in.] THE GATHERIXG. 135 

And inly did he curse the breeze 

That waked to sound the rustling trees. 

But hark ! what mingles in the strain ? 

It is the harp of Allan-Bane, 

That wakes its measures slow and high, 

Attuned to sacred minstrelsy. 

What melting voice attends the strings ? 

'Tis Ellen, or an angel, sings. 

XXIX. 
HYMN TO THE VIRGIN. 

Ave Maria ! maiden mild ! 

Listen to a maiden's prayer ! 
Thou canst hear though from the wild, 

Thou canst save amid despair. 
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care, 

Though banish'd, outcast, and reviled — 
Maiden ! hear a maiden's prayer ; 

Mother, hear a suppliant child ! 

Ave Maria ! 

Ave Maria! undefined ! 

The flinty couch we now must share 1 
Shall seem with down of eider piled, 

If thy protection hover there. 
The murky cavern's heavy air - 

Shall breathe of balm if thou hast smiled ; 
Then, Maiden! hear a maiden's prayer, 

Mother, list a suppliant child! 

Ave Maria ! 

1 MS. : " The flinty couch my sire must share." 

2 MS. : " The murky grotto s noxious air." 



136 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto in. 

Ave Maria ! stainless styled ! 

Foul demons of the earth and air, 
From this their wonted haunt exiled, 

Shall flee before thy presence fair. 
We bow us to our lot of care, 

Beneath thy guidance reconciled ; 
Hear for a maid a maiden's prayer, 

And for a father hear a child ! 

Ave Maria I 

XXX. 

Died on the harp the closing hymn, — 
Unmoved in attitude and limb, 
As list'ning still, Clan-Alpine's lord 
Stood leaning en his heavy sword, 
Until the page, with humble sign, 
Twice pointed to the sun's decline. 
Then while his plaid around him cast, 
" It is the last time — 'tis the last," 
He muttered thrice, — " the last time e'er 
That angel-voice shall Roderick hear!" 
It was a goading thought — his stride 
Hied hastier down the mountain-side ; 
Sullen he flung him in the boat, 
And instant 'cross the lake it shot. 
They landed in that silvery bay, 
And eastward held their hasty way, 
Till, with the latest beams of light, 
The band arrived on Lanrick height, 
Where muster'd, in the vale below, 1 
Clan-Alpine's men in martial show. 

1 MS. : " Where broad extending far below, 

Muster'd Clan-Alpine's martial show." 



canto in.] THE GATHERING. I 

XXXI. 

A various scene the clansmen made, 

Some sate, some stood, some slowly stray'd ; 

But most with mantles folded round, 

Were couch'd to rest upon the ground, 

Scarce to be known by curious eye, 

From the deep heather where they lie, 

So well was match'd the tartan screen 

With heath-bell dark and brackens green ; 

Unless where, here and there a blade, 

Or lance's point, a glimmer made, 

Like glow-worm twinkling through the shade, 

But when, advancing through the gloom, 

They saw the Chieftain's eagle plume, 

Their shout of welcome, shrill and wide, 

Shook the steep mountain's steady side. 

Thrice it arose, and lake and fell 

Three times return'd the martial yell ; 

It died upon Bochastle's plain, 

And silence claimed her evening reign, 



CANTO FOURTH. 

i. 

" The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new, 

And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears, 1 
The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew, 
And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears. 
O wilding rose, whom fancy thus endears, 
I bid your blossoms in my bonnet wave. 
Emblem of hope and love through future years ! " 
Thus spoke young Norman, heir of Armandave, 
What time the sun arose on Vennachar 1 s broad wave. 



ii. 
Such fond conceit, half said, half sung, 
Love prompted to the bridegroom's tongue. 
All while he stripp'd the wild-rose spray, 
His axe and bow beside him lay, 
For on a pass 'twixt lake and wood 
A wakeful sentinel he stood. 
Hark! — on the rock a. footstep rung, 
And instant to his arms he sprung. 

1 MS. : " And rapture dearest when obscured by fears. 
138 



canto iv.] THE PR OPHE CY. 139 

" Stand, or thou diest ! — What, Malise? — soon 

Art thou retunvd from Braes of Doune. 

By thy keen step and glance I know, 

Thou bring"st us tidings of the foe." 

(For while the Fiery Cross hied on, 

On distant scout had Malise gone.) 

" Where sleeps the Chief? " the henchman said 

"Apart in yonder misty glade ; 

To his lone couch IT1 be your guide." 

Then call'd a slumberer by his side, 

And stirr'd him with his slacken'd bow — 

" Up, up, Glentarkin! rouse thee, ho! 

We seek the Chieftain ; on the track 

Keep eagle watch till I come back." 



Together up the pass they sped : 

" What of the foemen ? " Norman said. — 

" Varying reports from near and far ; 

This certain, — that a band of war 

Has for two days been ready boune, 

At prompt command, to march from Doune ; 

King James, the while, with princely powers, 

Holds revelry in Stirling towers. 

Soon will this dark and gathering cloud 

Speak on our glens in thunder loud. 

Inured to bide such bitter bout, 

The warrior's plaid may bear it out ; 

But Norman, how wilt thou provide 

A shelter for thy bonny bride? " — 

" What! know ye not that Roderick's care 

To the lone isle hath caused repair 



140 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

Each maid and matron of the clan, 

And every child and aged man, 

Unfit for arms ; and given his charge, 

Nor skiff nor shallop, boat nor barge, 

Upon these lakes shall float at large, 

But all beside the islet moor, 

That such dear pledge may rest secure ? " — 



"'Tis well advised — the Chieftain's plan 1 

Bespeaks the father of his clan. 

But wherefore sleeps Sir Roderick Dhu 

Apart from all his followers true ? " — 

" It is, because last evening-tide 

Brian an augury hath tried, 

Of that dread kind which must not be 

Unless in dread extremity, 

The Taghairm call'd ; by which afar, 

Our sires foresaw the events of war. 2 

Duncraggan's milk-white bull they slew," — 

MALISE. 

" Ah! well the gallant brute I knew ! 

The choicest of the prey we had 

When swept our merry-men Gallangad. 3 

1 MS. : " 'Tis well advised — a prudent plan, 

Worthy the father of his clan." 

2 See Appendix, Note I. 

3 I know not if it be worth observing, that this passage is 
taken almost literally from the mouth of an old Highland 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 141 

His hide was snow, his horns were dark, 
His red eye glow'd like fiery spark ; 
So fierce, so tameless, and so fleet, 
Sore did he cumber our retreat, 
And kept our stoutest kerns in awe, 
Even at the pass of Beal 'maha. 
But steep and flinty was the road, 
And sharp the hurrying pikemen's goad, 
And when we came to Dennan's Row, 
A child might scathless stroke his brow.* 1 



v. 

NORMAN. 

" That bull was slain : his reeking hide 
They stretch'd the cataract beside, 
Whose waters their wild tumult toss 
Adown the black and craggy boss 

Kern, or Ketteran, as they were called. He used to narrate 
the merry doings of the good old time when he was a follower 
of Rob Roy MacGregor. This leader, on one occasion, 
thought proper to make a descent upon the lower part of 
the Loch Lomond district, and summoned all the heritors 
and farmers to meet at the Kirk of Drymen, to pay him 
black-mail, i.e. tribute for forbearance and protection. As 
this invitation was supported by a band of thirty or forty 
stout fellows, only one gentleman, an ancestor, if I mistake 
not, of the present Mr. Grahame of Gartmore, ventured to 
decline compliance. Rob Roy instantly swept his land of all 
he could drive away, and among the spoil was a bull of the 
old Scottish wild breed, whose ferocity occasioned great 
plague to the Ketterans. " But ere we had reached the 
Row of Dennan," said the old man, "a child might have 



142 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

Of that huge cliff, whose ample verge 
Tradition calls the Hero's Targe. 1 
Couch'd on a shelve beneath its brink, 
Close where the thundering torrents sink, 
Rocking beneath their headlong sway, 
And drizzled by the ceaseless spray, 
Midst groan of rock and roar of stream, 
The wizard waits prophetic dream. 
Nor distant rests the Chief; — but hush! 
See, gliding slow through mist and bush, 
The hermit gains yon rock, and stands 
To gaze upon our slumbering bands. 
Seems he not, Malise, like a ghost, 
That hovers o'er a slaughter'd host ? 
Or raven on the blasted oak, 
That watching while the deer is broke, 2 
His morsel claims with sullen croak?" 

scratched his ears." * The circumstance is a minute one, 
but it paints the times when the poor beeve was compelled — 

" To hoof it o'er as many weary miles, 
With goading pikemen hollowing at his heels, 
As e'er the bravest antler of the woods." — Ethivald. 

1 There is a rock so named in the Forest of Glenfinlas, by 
which a tumultuary cataract takes its course. This wild place 
is said in former times to have afforded refuge to an outlaw, 
who was supplied with provisions by a woman, who lowered 
them clown from the brink of the precipice above. His water 
he procured for himself, by letting down a flagon tied to a 
string, into the black pool beneath the fall. 

2 Quartered. — Everything belonging to the chase was mat- 
ter of solemnity among our ancestors ; but nothing was more 

* This anecdote was, in former editions, inaccurately ascribed to 
Gresor Mac^regor of Glengyle, called Gklune Dhu, or Black-knee, a 
relation of Rob Roy, but, as I have been assured, not addicted to his 
predatory excesses. — Note to Third Edition. 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 143 



MALISE. 

" Peace ! peace ! to other than to me, 
Thy words were evil augury ; 
But still I hold Sir Roderick's blade 
Clan-Alpine's omen and her aid, 

so than the mode of cutting up, or, as it was technically called, 
breaking, the slaughtered stag. The forester had his allotted 
portion; the hounds had a certain allowance; and, to make 
the division as general as possible, the very birds had their 
share also. " There is a little gristle," says Tubcrville, " which 
is upon the spoone of the brisket, which we call the raven's 
bone ; and I have seen in some places a raven so wont and 
accustomed to it, that she would never fail to croak and cry 
for it all the time you were in breaking up of the deer, and 
would not depart till she had it." In the very ancient metrical 
romance of Sir Tristrem, that peerless knight, who is said to 
have been the very deviser of all rules of chase, did not omit 
the ceremony. 

" The rauen he yaue his yiftes 
Sat on the fourched tre." 

The raven might also challenge his rights by the book of 
St. Albans ; for thus says Dame Juliana Berners : 

" Sitteth anon 

The bely to the side, from the corbyn bone; 
That is corbyn's fee, at the death he will be." 

Jonson, in " The Sad Shepherd," gives a more poetical 
account of the same ceremony : — 

" Marian. He that undoes him 

Doth cleave the brisket bone, upon the spoon 
Of which a little gristle grows — you call it — 

Robin Hood. The raven's bone. 

Marian. Now o'er head sat a raven 

On a sere bough, a grown, great bird, and hoarse, 
Who, all the while the deer was breaking up, 
So croak'd and cried for't, as all the huntsmen, 
Especially old Scathlock, thought it ominous." 



144 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

Not aught that, glean'd from heaven or hell, 
Yon fiend-begotten monk can tell. 
The chieftain joins him, see — and now, 
Together they descend the brow." 



VI. 

And, as they came, with Alpine's Lord 
The Hermit Monk held solemn word : 
" Roderick ! it is a fearful strife, 
For man endow'd with mortal life, 
Whose shroud of sentient clay can still 
Feel feverish pang and fainting chill, 
Whose eye can stare in stony trance, 
Whose hair can rouse like warrior's lance, 
'Tis hard for such to view, unfurl'd, 
The curtain of the future world. 
Yet witness every quaking limb, 
My sunken pulse, mine eyeballs dim, 
My soul with harrowing anguish torn, 
This for my Chieftain have I borne ! — 
The shapes that sought my fearful couch, 
A human tongue may ne'er avouch ; 
No mortal man, — save he, who, bred 
Between the living and the dead, 
Is gifted beyond nature's law, — 
Had e'er surviv'd to say he saw. 
At length the fateful answer came, 
In characters of living flame ! 
Not spoke in word, nor blazed in scroll, 
But borne and branded on my soul : — 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 145 

Which spills the foremost foeman's life, 1 
That party conquers in the strife." — 2 



VII. 

" Thanks, Brian, for thy zeal and care ! 
Good is thine augury, and fair. 
Clan-Alpine ne'er in battle stood, 
But first, our broadswords tasted blood. 
A surer victim still I know, 
Self-ofifer'd to the auspicious blow : 
A spy has sought my land this morn, 
No eve shall witness his return ! 
My followers guard each pass's mouth, 
To east, to westward, and to south ; 
Red Murdoch, bribed to be his guide, 3 
Has charge to lead his steps aside, 
Till, in deep path or dingle brown, 
He light on those shall bring him down. 4 
— But see, who comes his news to show ! 
Malise ! what tidings of the foe? " — 

1 MS. : " Which foremost spills a foeman's life." 

2 Though this be in the text described as a response of the 
Taghairm, or Oracle of the Hide, it was of itself an augury 
frequently attended to. The fate of the battle was often antici- 
pated in the imagination of the combatants, by observing which 
party first shed blood. It is said that the Highlanders under 
Montrose were so deeply imbued with this notion, that on the 
morning of the battle of Tippermoor, they murdered a de- 
fenceless herdsman, whom they found in the fields, merely to 
secure an advantage of so much consequence to their party. 

3 MS. : " The clansmen vainly dcem'd his guide." 

4 MS.: " He light on those shall stab him down." 



146 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 



" At Doune, o'er many a spear and glaive 

Two Barons proud their banners wave. 

I saw the Moray's silver star, 

And mark'd the sable pale of Mar.''' — 

" By Alpine's soul, high tidings those ! 

I love to hear of worthy foes. 

When move they on? " — " To-morrow's noon x 

Will see them here for battle boune." — 2 

" Then shall it see a meeting stern ! — 

But, for the place, — say, couldst thou learn 

Nought of the friendly clans of Earn ? 

Strengthen'd by them, we well might bide 

The battle on Benledi's side. 

Thou couldst not ? — Well ! Clan-Alpine's men 

Shall man the Trosachs' shaggy glen ; 

Within Loch Katrine's gorge we'll fight, 

All in our maids' and matrons' sight, 

Each for his hearth and household fire, 

Father for child, and son for sire, 

Lover for maid beloved ! — But why — 

Is it the breeze affects mine eye? 

Or dost thou come, ill-omen'd tear ! 

A messenger of doubt or fear? 

No! sooner may the Saxon lance 

Unfix Benledi from his stance, 

, „,„ .,,■,,« , -> , f ' This sun ) 

1 MS. : When move they on ? j , \ at noon 

' 'Tis said will see them march from Doune.' 

,„ , ( makes ) 

To-morrow then j \ meeting stern. 

2 For battle boune — ready for battle. 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 14 7 

Than doubt or terror can pierce through 
The unyielding heart of Roderick Dhu! 
'Tis stubborn as his trusty targe. — x 
Each to his post! — all know their charge." 
The pibroch sounds, the bands advance, 
The broadswords gleam, the banners dance, 
Obedient to the Chieftain's glance. 
— I turn me from the martial roar, 
And see Coir-Uriskin once more. 

IX. 

Where is the Douglas? — he is gone ; 
And Ellen sits on the gray stone 
Fast by the cave, and makes her moan ; 
While vainly Allan's words of cheer 
Are pour'd on her unheeding ear. 
" He will return — dear lady, trust ! — 
With joy return ; — he will — he must. 
Well was it time to seek, afar, 
Some refuge from impending war, 
When e'en Clan-Alpine's rugged swarm 
Are cow'd by the approaching storm. 
I saw their boats with many a light, 
Floating the live-long yesternight, 
Shifting like flashes darted forth 2 
By the red streamers of the north ; 

1 MS.: " 'Tis stubborn as his Highland targe." 

2 MS. : " Thick as the flashes darted forth 

By morrice-dancers of the north ; 

. , , . ( barges ride, 

And saw at morn their \ ,. 

( little fleet, 

Close moor'd by the lone islet's side. 



148 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

I mark'd at morn how close they ride, 
Thick moor'd by the lone islet's side, 
Like wild-ducks couching in the fen, 
When stoops the hawk upon the glen. 
Since this rude race dare not abide 
The peril on the mainland side, 
Shall not thy noble father's care 
Some safe retreat for thee prepare? " — 



ELLEN. 

" No, Allan, no ! Pretext so kind 1 
My wakeful terrors could not blind. 
When in such tender tone, yet grave, 
Douglas a parting blessing gave, 
The tear that glisten'd in his eye 
Drown'd not his purpose fix'd and high. 
My soul, though feminine and weak, 
Can image his ; e'en as the lake, 
Itself disturb'd by slightest stroke, 2 
Reflects the invulnerable rock. 

Since this rude race dare not abide 
Upon their native mountain side, 
'Tis fit that Douglas should provide 
For his dear child some safe abode, 
And soon he comes to point the road." 

1 MS. : " No, Allan, no ! His words so kind 

Were but pretexts my fears to blind, 
When in such solemn tone and grave, 
Douglas a parting blessing gave." 

2 MS. : " Itself disturb'd by slightest shock, 

Reflects the adamantine rock." 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 149 

He hears report of battle rife, 

He deems himself the cause of strife. 

I saw him redden, when the theme 

Turn'd, Allan, on thine idle dream, 

Of Malcolm Graeme, in fetters bound, 

Which I, thou saidst, about him wound. 

Think'st thou he trow'd thine omen aught ? 

Oh no ! 'twas apprehensive thought 

For the kind youth, — for Roderick too — 

(Let me be just) that friend so true ; 

In danger both, and in our cause! 

Minstrel, the Douglas dare not pause. 

Why else that solemn warning given, 

' If not on earth, we meet in heaven! ' 

Why else, to Cambus-kenneth's fane, 



If eve return him not again, 

Am I to hie, and make me known ? 

Alas! he goes to Scotland's throne, 

Buys his friend's safety with his own ; — 

He goes to do what I had done, — 

Had Douglas' daughter been his son ! " — 

XI. 

ALLAN. 

" Nay, lovely Ellen! — dearest, nay! 
If aught should his return delay, 
He only named yon holy fane 
As fitting place to meet again. 
Be sure he's safe ; and for the Graeme, — 
Heaven's blessing on his gallant name! — 
My vision'd sight may yet prove true, 
Nor bode of ill to him or you. 






1 5 o THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto I v. 

When did my gifted dream beguile ? 
Think of the stranger at the isle, 
And think upon the harpings slow, 
That presaged this approaching woe ! 
Sooth was my prophecy of fear ; 
Believe it when it augurs cheer. 
Would we had left this dismal spot ! 
Ill luck still haunts a fairy grot. 
Of such a wondrous tale I know — 
Dear lady, change that look of woe, 
My harp was wont thy grief to cheer." — 

ELLEN. 

" Well, be it as thou wilt ; I hear, 
But cannot stop the bursting tear." 
The minstrel tried his simple art, 
But distant far was Ellen's heart. 

XII. 
BALLAD 1 : ALICE BRAND. 

Merry it is in the good greenwood, 

When the mavis 2 and merle 3 are singing, 

When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cry, 
And the hunter's horn is ringing. 

" O Alice Brand, my native land 
Is lost for love of you ; 
And we must hold by wood and wold, 
As outlaws wont to do. 

1 See Appendix, Note K. 
2 Thrush. 3 Blackbird. 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 151 

" Alice, 'twas all for thy locks so bright, 
And 'twas all for thine eyes so blue, 
That on the night of our luckless flight, 
Thy brother bold I slew. 

" Now must I teach to hew the beech 

The hand that held the glaive, 

For leaves to spread our lowly bed, 

And stakes to fence our cave. 

" And for vest of pall, thy fingers small, 
That wont on harp to stray, 
A cloak must shear from the slaughter^ deer 
To keep the cold away." — 

" O Richard! if my brother died, 
'Twas but a fatal chance ; 
For darkling was the battle tried, 
And fortune sped the lance. 1 

" If pall and vair no more I wear, 
Nor thou the crimson sheen, 
As warm, we'll say, is the russet gray 
As gay the forest-green. 

"And, Richard, if our lot be hard, 
And lost thy native land, 
Still Alice has her own Richard, 
And he his Alice Brand." 

1 MS. : " 'Twas but a midnight chance ; 

For blindfold was the battle plied, 
And fortune held the lance." 



152 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 



XIII. 
BALLAD CONTINUED. 

'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood. 

So blithe Lady Alice is singing ; 
On the beech's pride, and oak's brown side, 

Lord Richard's axe is ringing. 

Up spoke the moody Elfin King, 
Who won'd within the hill, — 1 

1 In a long dissertation upon the Fairy Superstitions, pub- 
lished in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," the most valu- 
able part of which was supplied by my learned and indefati- 
gable friend, Dr. John Leyden, must of the circumstances are 
collected which can throw light upon the popular belief which 
even yet prevails respecting them in Scotland. Dr. Grahame, 
author of an entertaining work upon the Scenery of the Perth- 
shire Highlands, already frequently quoted, has recorded, with 
great accuracy, the peculiar tenets held by the Highlanders on 
this topic, in the vicinity of Loch Katrine. The learned author 
is inclined to deduce the whole mythology from the Druidical 
system, — an opinion to which there are many objections. 

" The Daoine Shi,'' or Men of Peace, of the Highlanders, 
though not absolutely malevolent, are believed to be a peevish, 
repining race of beings, who possessing themselves but a scanty 
portion of happiness, are supposed to envy mankind their more 
complete and substantial enjoyments. They are supposed to 
enjoy in their subterraneous recesses, a sort of shadowy hap- 
piness — a tinsel grandeur; which, however, they would will- 
ingly exchange for the more solid joys of mortality. 

" They are believed to inhabit certain round grassy emi- 
nences, where they celebrate their nocturnal festivities by the 
light of the moon. About a mile beyond the source of the 
Forth above Loch Con, there is a place called Coirs/ii'a/r, or 
the Cove of the Men of Peace, which is still supposed to be a 
favorite place of their residence. In the neighborhood are to 



canto iv.] THE PR OPHE CY. 153 

Like wind in the porch of a ruin'd church, 
His voice was ghostly shrill. 

" Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak, 
Our moonlight circle's screen? x 

be seen many round conical eminences ; particularly one, near 
the head of the lake, by the skirts of which many are still afraid 
to pass after sunset. It is believed, that if, on Hallow-eve, any 
person, alone, goes round one of these hills nine times, towards 
the left hand [sinistrorsum) a door shall open, by which he 
will be admitted into their subterraneous abodes. Many, it is 
said, of mortal race, have been entertained in their secret re- 
cesses. There they have been received into the most splendid 
apartments, and regaled with the most sumptuous banquets, 
and delicious wines. Their females surpass the daughters of 
men in beauty. The seemingly happy inhabitants pass their 
time in festivity, and in dancing to notes of the softest music. 
But unhappy is the mortal who joins in their joys, or ventures 
to partake of their dainties. By this indulgence, he forfeits for- 
ever the society of men, and is bound down irrevocably to the 
condition of Shi'ich, or Man of Peace. 

" A woman, as is reported in the Highland tradition, was 
conveyed in days of yore into the secret recesses of the Men of 
Peace. There she was recognized by one who had formerly 
been an ordinary mortal, but who had, by some fatality, become 
associated with the Shi'ichs. This acquaintance, still retaining 
some portion of human benevolence, warned her of her danger, 
and counselled her, as she valued her liberty, to abstain from 
eating and drinking with them for a certain space of time. She 
complied with the counsel of her friend ; and when the period 
assigned was elapsed, she found herself again upon earth, 
restored to the society of mortals. It is added, that when she 
examined the viands which had been presented to her, and 
which had appeared so tempting to the eye, they were found, 
now that the enchantment was removed, to consist only of the 
refuse of the earth." — P. 107-111. 

1 MS. : " Our fairy ringlet's screen." 



154 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i v. 

Or who comes here to chase the deer, 

Beloved of our Elfin Queen? 1 
Or who may dare on wold to wear 

The fairies' fatal green ? 2 

" Up, Urgan, up! to yon mortal hie, 

For thou wert christen'd man ; 3 
For cross or sign thou wilt not fly, 

For mutter'd word or ban. 

1 See Appendix, Note L. 

2 As the Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace, wore green habits, 
they were supposed to take offence when any mortals ventured 
to assume their favorite color. Indeed, from some reason, 
which has been, perhaps, originally a general superstition, ^/w// 
is held in Scotland to be unlucky to particular tribes and 
counties. The Caithness men, who hold this belief, allege, as 
a reason, that their bands wore that color when they were cut 
off at the battle of Flodden ; and for the same reason they 
avoid crossing the Ord on a Monday, being the day of the week 
on which their ill-omened array set forth. Green is also dis- 
liked by those of the name of Ogilvy ; but more especially is 
it held fatal to the whole clan of Grahame. It is remembered 
of an aged gentleman of that name, that when his horse fell in 
a fox-chase, he accounted for it at once, by observing, that the 
whip-cord attached to his lash was of this unlucky color. 

3 The Elves were supposed greatly to envy the privileges 
acquired by Christian initiation, and they gave to those mortals 
who had fallen into their power, a certain precedence, founded 
upon this advantageous distinction. Tamlane, in the old bal- 
lad, describes his own rank in the fairy procession : — 

" For I ride on a milk-white steed, 
And aye nearest the town; 
Because I was a christen'd knight, 
They gave me that renown." 

I presume, that in the Danish ballad of the Elfin Grey (see 
Appendix, Note K.) the obstinacy of the " Weist Elf," who 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 155 

*' Lay on him the curse of the withered heart, 

The curse of the sleepless eye ; 
Till he wish and pray that his life would part, 

Nor yet rind leave to die." 

XIV. 
BALLAD CONTINUED. 

'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood, 
Though the birds have stilFd their singing ; 

The evening blaze doth Alice raise, 
And Richard is fagots bringing. 

would not flee for cross or sign, is to be derived from the 
circumstance of his having been " christen'd man." 

How eager the Elves were to obtain for their offspring the 
prerogatives of Christianity, will be proved by the following 
story: — "In the district called Haga, in Iceland, dwelt a 
nobleman called Sigward Forster, who had an intrigue with 
one of the subterranean females. The elf became pregnant 
and exacted from her lover a firm promise that he would 
procure the baptism of the infant. At the appointed time, 
the mother came to the churchyard, on the wall of which she 
placed a golden cup, and a stole for the priest, agreeable to 
the custom of making an offering at baptism. She then stood 
a little apart. When the priest left the church, he inquired 
the meaning of what he saw, and demanded of Sigward if he 
avowed himself the father of the child. But Sigward, ashamed 
of the connexion, denied the paternity. He was then interro- 
gated if he desired that the child should be baptized ; but this 
also he answered in the negative, lest, by such request, he 
should admit himself to be the father. On which the child 
was left untouched and unbaptized. Whereupon the mother, 
in extreme wrath, snatched up the infant and the cup, and 
retired, leaving the priestly cope, of which fragments are still 
in preservation. But this female denounced and imposed 



156 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i v. 

Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf, 

Before Lord Richard stands, 
And as he cross'd and bless'd himself, 
" I fear not sign, 1 ' quoth the grisly elf, 

" That is made with bloody hands." 

But out then spoke she, Alice Brand, 

That woman void of fear, — 
" And if there's blood upon his hand, 

'Tis but the blood of deer. 1 ' — 

" Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood! 

It cleaves unto his hand, 
The stain of thine own kindly blood, 

The blood of Ethert Brand. 11 

Then forward stepp'd she, Alice Brand, 

And made the holy sign, — 
" And if there's blood on Richard's hand, 

A spotless hand is mine. 

" And I conjure thee, Demon elf, 

By Him whom Demons fear, 
To show us whence thou art thyself, 

And what thine errand here ? " — 

upon Sigward, and his posterity, to the ninth generation, a 
singular disease, with which many of his descendants are 
afflicted at this day." Thus wrote Einar Dudmond, pastor 
of the parish of Garpsdale, in Iceland, a man profoundly 
versed in learning, from whose manuscript it was extracted 
by the learned Torfddiis. — Historia Hrolfi Krakii, Ha/nice, 
1715, prefatio. 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 157 

xv. 

BALLAD CONTINUED. 

" 'Tis merry., 'tis merry, in Fairy-land, 

When fairy birds are singing, 
When the court doth ride by their monarch's side, 

With bit and bridle ringing : 

" And gaily shines the Fairy-land, 

But all is glistening show, 1 
Like the idle gleam that December's beam 

Can dart on ice and snow. 

" And fading, like that varied gleam, 

Is our inconstant shape, 
Who now like knight and lady seem, 

And now like dwarf and ape. 

" It was between the night and day, 

When the Fairy King has power, 
That I sunk down in a sinful fray, 
And 'twixt life and death was snatch'd away 

To the joyless Elfin bower. 2 

1 See Appendix, Note M. 

- The subjects of Fairy-land were recruited from the re- 
gions of humanity by a sort of crimping system, which 
extended to adults as well as to infants. Many of those who 
were in this world supposed to have discharged the debt of 
nature, had only become denizens of the " Londe of Faery." 
In the beautiful Fairy Romance of Orfee and Heurodiis 
(Orpheus and Eurydice) in the Auchinleck MS., is the fol- 
lowing striking enumeration of persons thus abstracted from 



158 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto 1 v. 

" But wist I of a woman bold, 

Who thrice my brow durst sign, 
I might regain my mortal mold, 

As fair a form as thine. 11 

She crossM him once — she cross'd him twice — 

That lady was so brave ; 
The fouler grew his goblin hue, 

The darker grew the cave. 

She cross'd him thrice, that lady bold ; 

He rose beneath her hand 
The fairest knight on Scottish mold, 

Her brother, Ethert Brand! 

middle earth. Mr. Ritson unfortunately published this ro- 
mance from a copy in which the following, and many other 
highly poetical passages do not occur : — 

" Then he gan biholde about al, 

And seighe ful liggeand with in the wal, 
Of folk that were thidder y-brought, 
And thought dede and nere nought; 
Some stode with outen hadde; 
And sum none armes nade; 
And sum thurch the bodi hadde wounde; 
And sum lay wode y-bounde; 
And sum armed on hors sete; 
And sum estrangled as thai ete; 
And sum war in water adreynt; 
And sum with fire al forschreynt; 
Wives ther lay on childe bedde; 
Some dede, and sum awedde; 
And wonder fele ther lay besides, 
Right as thai slepe her undertides; 
Eche was thus in the warld y-nome, 
With fairi thider y-come." 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 159 

Merry it is in good greenwood, 

When the mavis and merle are singing, 

But merrier were they in Dunfermline gray, 
When all the bells were ringing. 

XVI. 

Just as the minstrel's sounds were stay'd, 

A stranger climb'd the steepy glade : 

His martial step, his stately mien, 

His hunting suit of Lincoln green, 

His eagle glance, remembrance claims — 

'Tis Snowdoun's Knight, 'tis James Fitz-James. 

Ellen beheld as in a dream, 

Then, starting, scarce suppressed a scream : 

" O stranger ! in such hour of fear, 

What evil hap has brought thee here? 17 — 

"An evil hap how can it be, 

That bids me look again on thee ? 

By promise bound, my former guide 

Met me betimes this morning tide, 

And marshalPd, over bank and bourne, 

The happy path of my return. 11 — 

" The happy path ! — what ! said he nought 

Of war, of battle to be fought, 

Of guarded pass ? " — " No, by my faith ! 

Nor saw I aught could augur scathe. 11 — 

" O haste thee, Allan, to the kern : 

Yonder his tartans I discern ; 

Learn thou his purpose, and conjure 

That he will guide the stranger sure! — 

What prompted thee, unhappy man ? 

The meanest serf in Roderick's clan 



1 60 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

Had not been bribed by love or fear, 
Unknown to him to guide thee here." 



XVII. 

" Sweet Ellen, dear my life must be, 
Since it is worthy care from thee ; 
Yet life I hold but idle breath, 
When love or honor's weigh'd with death. 
Then let me profit by my chance, 
And speak my purpose bold at once. 
I come to bear thee from a wild, 
Where ne'er before such blossom smiled, 
By this soft hand to lead thee far 
From frantic scenes of feud and war. 
Near Bochastle my horses wait 1 
They bear us soon to Stirling gate. 
I'll place thee in a lovely bower, 

I'll guard thee like a tender flower" 

" O ! hush, Sir Knight ! 'twere female art, 
To say I do not read thy heart ; 
Too much, before, my selfish ear 
Was idly soothed my praise to hear. 2 
That fatal bait hath lured thee back, 
In deathful hour, o'er dangerous track; 
And how, O how, can I atone 
The wreck my vanity brought on ! — 
One way remains — I'll tell him all — 
Yes ! struggling bosom, forth it shall ! 

1 MS. : " By Cambusmore my horses wait." 

2 MS. : " Was idly fond thy praise to hear." 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 161 

Thou, whose light folly bears the blame, 

Buy thine own pardon with thy shame ! 

But first — my father is a man 

Outlaw'd and exiled, under ban ; 

The price of blood is on his head, 

With me 'twere infamy to wed. — 

Still wouldst thou speak ? — then hear the truth ! 

Fitz-James, there is a noble youth, — 

If yet he is ! — exposed for me 

And mine to dread extremity — 

Thou hast the secret of my heart ; 

Forgive, be generous, and depart! " 



XVIII. 

Fitz-James knew every wily train 

A lady's fickle heart to gain, 

But here he knew and felt them vain. 

There shot no glance from Ellen's eye, 

To give her steadfast speech the lie ; 

In maiden confidence she stood, 

Though mantled in her cheek the blood, 

And told her love with such a sigh 

Of deep and hopeless agony, 

As death had seal'd her Malcolm's doom, 

And she sat sorrowing on his tomb. 

Hope vanished from Fitz-James's eye, 

But not with hope fled sympathy. 

He proffer'd to attend her side, 

As brother would a sister guide. — 

" O ! little know'st thou Roderick's heart ! 

Safer for both we go apart. 



1 62 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

haste thee, and from Allan learn, 

If thou may'st trust yon wily kern. ,, 

With hand upon his forehead laid, 

The conflict of his mind to shade 

A parting step or two he made ; 

Then, as some thought had cross'd his brain, 

He paused, and turn'd, and came again. 

XIX. 

" Hear, lady, yet a parting word ! — 
It chanced in fight that my poor sword 
Preserved the life of Scotland's lord. 
This ring the grateful Monarch gave, 1 
And bade, when I had boon to crave, 
To bring it back and boldly claim 
The recompense that I would name. 
Ellen, I am no courtly lord, 
But one who lives by lance and sword, 
Whose castle is his helm and shield, 
His lordship the embattled field. 
What from a prince can I demand, 
Who neither reck of state nor land ? 
Ellen, thy hand — the ring is thine ; 2 
Each guard and usher knows the sign. 
Seek thou the king without delay ; 3 
This signet shall secure thy way : 



IMS. 

2 MS. 

3 MS. 



" This ring of gold the monarch gave." 
" Permit this hand — the ring is thine." 
" ' Seek thou the King, and on thy knee 

Put forth thy suit, what e'er it be, 

As ransom of his pledge to me; 

My name and this shall make thy way.' 

He put the little signet on." 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 163 

And claim thy suit, whate'er it be, 

As ransom of his pledge to me." 

He placed the golden circlet on, 

Paused — kissed her hand — and then was gone. 

The aged Minstrel stood aghast, 

So hastily Fitz-James shot past. 

He join*d his guide, and wending down 

The ridges of the mountain brown, 

Across the stream they took their way, 

That joins Loch Katrine to Achray. 



xx. 

All in the Trosachs 1 glen was still, 
Noontide was sleeping on the hill : 
Sudden his guide whoop'd loud and high — 
" Murdoch ! was that a signal cry?" — 
He stammered forth, " I shout to scare * 
Yon raven from his dainty fare." 
He looked — he knew the raven's prey, 
His own brave steed : " Ah! gallant gray ! 
For thee — for me, perchance — 'twere well 
We ne'er had seen the Trosachs' dell. — 
Murdoch, move first — but silently; 
Whistle or whoop, and thou shalt die ! " 
Jealous and sullen on they fared, 
Each silent, each upon his guard. 



1 MS. : " He stammer'd forth confused reply: 

' Saxon, It, 

« o- T ^ • 1 . M shouted but to scare 
Sir Knight, J 

Yon raven from his dainty fare.' " 



1 64 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

XXI. 

Now wound the path its dizzy ledge 
Around the precipice's edge, 
When lo! a wasted female form, 
Blighted by wrath of sun and storm, 
In tatter'd weeds and wild array, 1 
Stood on a cliff beside the way, 
And glancing round her restless eye, 
Upon the wood, the rock, the sky, 
Seem'd nought to mark, yet all to spy. 
Her brow was wreath'd with gaudy broom ; 
With gesture wild she waved a plume 
Of feathers which the eagles fling 
To crag and cliff from dusky wing ; 
Such spoils her desperate step had sought, 
Where scarce was footing for the goat. 
The tartan plaid she first descried, 
And shriek'd till all the rocks replied ; 
As- loud she laugh'd when near they drew, 
For then the Lowland garb she knew ; 
And then her hands she wildly wrung, 
And then she wept, and then she sung — 
She sung ! — the voice in better time, 
Perchance to harp or lute might chime ; 
And now though strain'd and roughen'd, still 
Rung wildly sweet to dale and hill. 

XXII. 
SONG. 

They bid me sleep, they bid me pray, 

They say my brain is warp'd and wrung — 
1 MS. : " Wrapp'd in a tatter'd mantle gray." 



canto IV. ] THE PR OPIIE CY. 165 

I cannot sleep on Highland brae, 

I cannot pray in Highland tongue. 
But were I now where Allan 1 glides, 
Or heard my native Devan's tides, 
So sweetly would I rest, and pray 
That heaven would close my wintry day ! 

'Twas thus my hair they bade me braid, 
They bade me to the church repair ; 

It was my bridal morn they said, 

And my true love would meet me there. 

But woe betide the cruel guile, 

That drown'd in blood the morning smile ! 

And woe betide the fairy dream ! 

I only waked to sob and scream. 

XXIII. 

" Who is this maid? what means her lay? 
She hovers o'er the hollow way, 
And flutters wide her mantle gray, 
As the lone heron spreads his wing, 
By twilight, o'er a haunted spring." — 
" 'Tis Blanche of Devan," Murdoch said, 2 
" A crazed and captive Lowland maid, 
Ta'en on the morn she was a bride. 
When Roderick foray'd Devan-side. 
The gay bridegroom resistance made, 
And felt our Chiefs unconquer'd blade. 

1 The Allan and Devan are two beautiful streams, the latter 
celebrated in the poetry of Burns, which descend from the 
hills of Perthshire into the great carse, or plain, of Stirling. 

2 MS. : " ' A Saxon born, a crazy maid — 

'Tis Blanche of Devan,' Murdoch said." 



1 66 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

I marvel she is now at large, 

But oft she 'scapes from Maudlin's charge. — 

Hence, brain-sick fool! " — He raised his bow : — 

" Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow, 

I'll pitch thee from the cliff as far 

As ever peasant pitched a bar ! " — 

" Thanks, champion, thanks! " the Maniac cried, 

And press'd her to Fitz-James's side. 

" See the gray pennons I prepare, 1 

To seek my true love through the air ! 

I will not lend that savage groom, 2 

To break his fall, one downy plume ! 

No ! — deep amid disjointed stones, 

The wolves shall batten on his bones, 

And then shall his detested plaid, 

By brush and brier in mid air stay'd, 

Wave forth a banner fair and free, 

Meet signal for their revelry. 11 — 



" Hush thee, poor maiden, and be still ! " — 
O ! thou look^t kindly, and I will. 
Mine eye has dried and wasted been, 
But still it loves the Lincoln green ; 
And, though mine ear is all unstrung, 
Still, still it loves the Lowland tongue. 

1 MS. : " With thee these pennons will I share, 

Then seek my true love through the air." 

2 MS. : " But I'll not lend that savage groom, 

To break his fall one downy plume ! 
Deep, deep 'mid yon disjointed stones, 
The wolf shall batten on his bones." 



canto iv.] THE PR OPHE CY. 167 

" For O my sweet William was forester true, 1 
He stole poor Blanche's heart away ! 

His coat it was all of the greenwood hue, 2 
And so blithely he trill'd the Lowland lay ! 

" It was not that I meant to tell . . . 
But thou art wise and guessest well." 
Then, in a low and broken tone, 
And hurried note, the song went on. 
Still on the Clansman, fearfully, 
She fixed her apprehensive eye ; 
Then turn'd it on the Knight, and then 
Her look glanced wildly o'er the glen. 

XXV. 

" The toils are pitcb/d, and the stakes are set, 
Ever singing merrily, merrily ; 
The bows they bend, and the knives they whet, 
Hunters live so cheerily. 

" It was a stag, a stag of ten, 3 
Bearing its branches sturdily ; 
He came stately down the glen, 
Ever sing hardily, hardily. 

" It was there he met with a wounded doe, 
She was bleeding deathfully ; 
She warn'd him of the toils below, 
O, so faithfully, faithfully ! 

1 MS. : *Sweet William was a woodsman true, 

He stole poor Blanche's heart away." 

2 MS. : " His coat was of the forest hue, 

And sweet he sung the Lowland lay." 
8 Having ten branches on his antlers. 



1 68 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto i v. 

" He had an eye, and he could heed, 
Ever sing warily, warily ; 
He had a foot and he could speed — 
Hunters watch so narrowly." x 

XXVI. 

Fitz-James's mind was passion-toss'd, 
When Ellen's hints and fears were lost ; 
But Murdoch's shout suspicion wrought, 
And Blanche's song conviction brought. 
Not like a stag that spies the snare, 
But lion of the hunt aware. 
He waved at once his blade on high. 
" Disclose thy treachery, or die! " 
Forth at full speed the Clansman flew, 2 
But in his race his bow he drew. 
The shaft just grazed Fitz-James's crest, 
And thrill'd in Blanche's faded breast. — 
Murdoch of Alpine! prove thy speed, 
For ne'er had Alpine's son such need ! 

1 " No machinery can be conceived more clumsy for effect- 
ing the deliverance of a distressed hero, than the introduction 
of a mad woman, who, without knowing or caring about the 
wanderer, warns him, by a song, to take care of the ambush 
that was set for him. The maniacs of poetry have indeed had 
a prescriptive right to be musical, since the days of Ophelia 
downwards ; but it is rather a rash extension of this privilege to 
make them sing good sense, and to make sensible people be 
guided by them." — Jeffrey. 

2 MS. : " Forth at full speed the Clansman went; 

But in his race his bow he bent, 
Halted — and back an arrow sent." 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 169 

With heart of fire and foot of wind, 

The fierce avenger is behind ! 

Fate judges of the rapid strife — 

The forfeit death — the prize is life ! 

Thy kindred ambush lies before, 

Close coucrTd upon the heathery moor ; 

Them couldst thou reach! — it may not be — 1 

Thine ambuslvd kin thou ne'er shall see, 

The fiery Saxon gains on thee ! — 

Resistless speeds the deadly thrust, 

As lightning strikes the pine to dust; 

With foot and hand Fitz-James must strain, 

Ere he can win his blade again. 

Bent o'er the fall'n, with falcon eye, 2 

He grimly smiled to see him die : 

Then slower wended back his way, 

Where the poor maiden bleeding lay. 

XXVII. 

She sate beneath the birchen tree, 
Her elbow resting on her knee ; 
She had withdrawn the fatal shaft, 
And gazed on it, and feebly laugh 1 d ; 
Her wreath of broom and feathers gray, 
Daggled with blood, beside her lay. 

1 MS. : " It may not be — 

The fiery Saxon gains on thee, 
Thine ambush'd kin thou ne'er shalt see! 
Resistless as the lightning's flame, 
The thrust betwixt his shoulder came." 

2 MS. : " Then o'er him hung, with falcon eye, 

And grimly smil'd to see him die." 



170 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

The Knight to stanch the life-stream tried. — 
" Stranger, it is in vain ! " she cried. 
" This hour of death has given me more 
Of reason's power than years before ; 
For, as these ebbing veins decay, 
My frenzied visions fade away. 
A helpless injured wretch I die, 1 
And something tells me in thine eye, 
That thou wert mine avenger born. — 
Seest thou this tress? — O, still I've worn , 
This little tress of yellow hair, 
Through danger, frenzy, and despair! 
It once was bright and clear as thine, 
But blood and tears have dimm'd its shine. 
I will not tell thee when 'twas shred, 
Nor from what guiltless victim's head — 
My brain would turn! — but it shall wave 2 
Like plumage on thy helmet brave, 
Till sun and wind shall bleach the stain, 
And thou wilt bring it me again. — 
I waver still. — O God! more bright 
Let reason beam her parting light! — 
O! by thy knighthood's honor'd sign, 
And for thy life preserved by mine, 
When thou shalt see a darksome man, 
Who boasts him Chief of Alpine's clan, 
With tartans broad and shadowy plume, 
And hand of blood, and brow of gloom, 
Be thy heart bold, thy weapon strong, 
And wreak poor Blanche of Devan's wrong 

1 MS. : " A guiltless injured wretch I die." 

2 MS. : " But now, my champion, — it shall wave." 



canto iv. J THE PROPHECY. 171 

They watch for thee by pass and fell . . . 
Avoid the path . . . O God! . . . farewell." 



XXVIII. 

A kindly heart had brave Fitz-James ; 

Fast pour'd his eyes at pity's claims ; 

And now with mingled grief and ire, 

He saw the murdered maid expire. 

"God, in my need, be my relief, 1 

As I wreak this on yonder Chief ! " 

A lock from Blanche's tresses fair 

He blended with her bridegroom's hair ; 

The mingled braid in blood he dyed, 

And placed it on his bonnet-side : 

" By Him whose word is truth! I swear 

No other favor will I wear, 

Till this sad token I imbrue 

In the best blood of Roderick Dhu!— 

But hark! what means yon faint halloo? 

The chase is up, — but they shall know, 

The stag at bay's a dangerous foe." 

Barr'd from the known but guarded way, 

Through copse and cliff Fitz-James must stray, 

And oft must change his desperate track, 

By stream and precipice turn'd back. 

Heartless, fatigued, and faint, at length, 

From lack of food and loss of strength, 

He couch'd him in a thicket hoar, 

And thought his toils and perils o'er : — 

1 MS. : " God in my need, to me be true, 

As I wreak this on Roderick Dhu." 



172 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

" Of all my rash adventures past, 

This frantic feat must prove the last! 

Who e'er so mad but might have guess'd, 

That all this Highland hornet's nest 

Would muster up in swarms so soon 

As e'er they heard of bands at Doune? — 

Like bloodhounds now they search me out, — ■ 

Hark to the whistle and the shout! — 

If farther through the wilds I go, 

I only fall upon the foe : 

I'll couch me here till evening gray, 

Then darkling try my dangerous way." 



XXIX. 

The shades of eve come slowly down, 

The woods are wrapt in deeper brown, 

The owl awakens from her dell, 

The fox is heard upon the fell ; 

Enough remains of glimmering light 

To guide the wanderer's steps aright, 

Yet not enough from far to show 

His figure to the watchful foe. 

With cautious step, and ear awake, 

He climbs the crag and threads the brake ; 

And not the summer solstice there 

Temper'd the midnight mountain air, 

But every breeze that swept the wold 

Benumb'd his drenched limbs with cold. 

In dread, in danger, and alone, 

Famish'd and chill'd, through ways unknown, 

Tangled and steep, he journey'd on ; 



canto iv.] THE PROPHECY. 1 73 

Till, as the rock's huge point he turned, 
A watch-fire close before him burn'd. 



XXX. 

Beside its embers red and clear, 1 

Bask'd, in his plaid, a mountaineer; 

And up he sprung with sword in hand. — 

" Thy name and purpose! Saxon, stand! " — 

" A stranger. 11 — " What dost thou require? " — 

" Rest and a guide, and food and fire. 

My life's beset, my path is lost, 

The gale has chilPd my limbs with frost. 1 ' — 

" Art thou a friend to Roderick? 11 — " No. 11 — 

" Thou dar'st not call thyself a foe? " — 

" I dare! to him and all his band 2 

He brings to aid his murderous hand. 11 — 

" Bold words! — but, though the beast of game 

The privilege of chase may claim, 

Though space and law the stag we lend, 

Ere hound we slip, or bow we bend, 

Who ever reck'd, where, how, or when, 

The prowling fox was trapp'd or slain ? 3 

Thus treacherous scouts, — yet sure they lie, 

Who say thou cam'st a secret spy! " — 

1 MS. : " By the decaying flame was laid 

A warrior in his Highland plaid." 

2 MS. : " I dare ! to him and all the swarm 

He brings to aid his murderous arm." 

3 St. John actually used this illustration when engaged in 
confuting the plea of law proposed for the unfortunate Earl of 
Strafford: "It was true we gave laws to hares and deer, 
because they are beasts of chase ; but it was never accounted 



1 74 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto iv. 

" They do, by heaven! — Come Roderick Dhu, 

And of his clan the boldest two, 

And let me but till morning rest, 

I write the falsehood on their crest.'" — 

" If by the blaze I mark aright, 

Thou bear'st the belt and spur of Knight. 1 ' 

" Then by these tokens mayst thou know 

Each proud oppressor's mortal foe." — 

" Enough, enough ; sit down and share 

A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare." 

XXXI. 

He gave him of his Highland cheer, 
The harden'd flesh of mountain deer ; 1 

either cruelty or foul play to knock foxes or wolves on the 
head as they can be found, because they are beasts of prey. 
In a word, the law and humanity were alike ; the one being 
more fallacious, and the other more barbarous, than in any 
age had been vented in such an authority." — CLARENDON'S 
History of the Rebellion. Oxford, 1702, fol. vol. p. 183. 

1 The Scottish Highlanders, in former times, had a concise 
mode of cooking their venison, or rather of dispensing with 
cooking it, which appears greatly to have surprised the French 
whom chance made acquainted with it. The Vidame of 
Chartres, when a hostage in England, during the reign of Ed- 
ward VI., was permitted to travel into Scotland, and penetrated 
as far as the remote Highlands {au fin fond des Sauvages). After 
a great hunting party, at which a most wonderful quantity of 
game was destroyed, he saw these Scottish savages devour a 
part of their venison raw, without any further preparation than 
compressing it between two batons of wood, so as to force out 
the blood, and render it extremely hard. This they reckoned 
a great delicacy; and when the Vidame partook of it, his 
compliance with their taste rendered him extremely popular. 



canto iv.] THE PR OTIIE CY. 175 

Dry fuel on the fire he laid, 
And bade the Saxon share his plaid. 
He tended him like welcome guest, 
Then trgis his further speech address'd. 

This curious trait of manners was communicated by M. de 
Montmorency, a great friend of the Vidame, to Brantome, by 
whom it is recorded in Vies des Hommes lllustres, Discours, 
lxxxix. art. 14. The process by which the raw venison was 
rendered eatable is described very minutely in the romance of 
Perceforest, where Estonne, a Scottish knight-errant, having 
slain a deer, says to his companion Claudius : " Sire, or man- 
gerez vous, et moy aussi. Voire si nous anions de feu, dit 
Claudius. Par l'ame de mon pere, dist Estonne, ie vous 
atourneray et cuiray a la maniere de nostre pays comme 
pour cheualier errant. Lors tira son espee, et sen vint a la 
branche dung arbre, et y fait vng grant trou, et puis fend la 
branche bien dieux piedx, et boute la cuisse du cerf entre 
deux, et puis prent le licol de son cheval, et en lye la branche, 
et destraint si fort, que le sang et les humeurs de la chair 
saillent hors, et demeure la chaire doulce et seiche. Lors 
prent la chair, et oste ius le cuir, et la chaire demeure aussi 
blanche comme si ce feust dung chappon. Dont dist a 
Claudius, Sire, ie la vous ay cuiste a la guise de mon pays, 
vous en pouez manger hardyement, car ie mangeray premier. 
Lors met sa main a sa selle en vng lieu quil y auoit, et tire 
hors sel et poudre de poiure et gingembre, mesle ensemble, 
et le iecte dessus, et le frote sus bien fort, puis le couppe a 
moytie et en donne a Claudius l'une des pieces, et puis mort 
en l'autre aussi sauoureusement quil est aduis que il en feist la 
pouldre voller. Quant Claudius veit quil le mangeoit de tel 
goust, il en print grant faim, et commence a manger, tresvou- 
lentiers, et dist a Estonne: Par l'ame de moy, ie ne mangeay 
oncquesmais de chair atournee de telle guise : mais dorese- 
nauant ie nc me retourneroye pas hors de mon chemin par 
auoir la cuite. Sire, dist Estonne, quant is suis en desers 
d'Escosse, dont ie suis seigneur, ie cheuaucheray huit iours 



176 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto 1 v. 

" Stranger, I am to Roderick Dhu 

A clansman born, a kinsman true ; 

Each word against his honor spoke, 

Demands of me avenging stroke ; «, 

Yet more, — upon thy fate, 'tis said, 

A mighty augury is laid. 

It rests with me to wind my horn. — 

Thou art with numbers overborne ; 

It rests with me, here, brand to brand, 

Worn as thou art, to bid thee stand : 

But, not for clan, nor kindred's cause, 

Will I depart from honor's laws ; 

To assail a wearied man were shame, 

And stranger is a holy name ; 

Guidance and rest, and food and fire 

In vain he never must require. 

Then rest thee here till dawn of day ; 

Myself will guide thee on the way, 

O'er stock and stone, through watch and ward, 

Till past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard, 

ou quinze que ie d'entreray en chastel ne en maison, et si ne 
verray feu ne personne viuant fors que bestes sauuages, et de 
celles mangeray atournees en ceste maniere, et mieulx me 
plaira que la viande de l'empereur. Ainsi sen vont mangeant 
et cheuauchant iusques adonc quilz arriuerent sur une moult 
belle fontaine que estoit en vne valee. Quant Estonne la vit 
il dist a Claudius, allons boire a ceste fontaine. Or beuuons, 
dist Estonne, du boire que le grant dieu a pourueu a toutes 
gens, et que me plaist mieulx que les ceruoises d'Angleterre." 
— La Treselegante Hystoire du tresnoble Roy Perceforest. Paris, 
1531, fol. tome i. fol. lv. vers. 

After all, it may be doubted whether la chaire nostree, for so 
the French called the venison thus summarily prepared, was 
anything more than a mere rude kind of deer-ham. 



canto iv.] . THE PROPHECY. 177 

As far as Coilantogle's ford ; 

From thence thy warrant is thy sword."— 

" I take thy courtesy, by Heaven, 
As freely as 'tis nobly given." 1 — 
" Well, rest thee ; for the bittern's cry 
Sings us the lake's wild lullaby." 
With that he shook the gather'd heath, 
And spread his plaid upon the wreath ; 
And the brave foemen, side by side, 
Lay peaceful down like brothers tried, 
And slept until the dawning beam * 
Purpled the mountain and the stream. 



1 MS. : " And slept until the dawning streak 
Purpled the mountain and the lake. 



CANTO FIFTH. 

5T|je Combat. 



Fair as the earliest beam of eastern light, 

When first, by the bewilder'd pilgrim spied 
It smiles upon the dreary brow of night, 

And silvers o'er the torrent's foaming tide, 
And lights the fearful path on mountain side ; — 1 

Fair as that beam, although the fairest far, 
Giving to horror grace, to danger pride, 

Shine martial Faith, and Courtesy's bright star, 
Through all the wreckful storms that cloud the brow 
of War. 

II. 

That early beam, so fair and sheen, 
Was twinkling through the hazel screen, 
When, rousing at its glimmer red, 
The warriors left their lowly bed, 
Look'd out upon the dappled sky, 
Mutter'd their soldier matins by, 
And then awaked their fire, to steal, 
As short and rude, their soldier meal. 

1 MS. : " And lights the fearful way along its side." 
178 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 1 79 

That o'er, the Gael 1 around him threw 
His graceful plaid of varied hue, 
And true to promise, led the way, 
By thicket green and mountain gray. 
A wildering path ! — they winded now 
Along the precipice's brow, 
Commanding the rich scenes beneath, 
The windings of the Forth and Teith, 
And all the vales between that lie, 
Till Stirling's turrets melt in sky ; 
Then, sunk in copse, their farthest glance 
Gain'd not the length of horseman's lance. 
'Twas oft so steep, the foot was fain 
Assistance from the hand to gain ; 
So tangled oft that, bursting through, 
Each hawthorn shed her showers of dew, — 
That diamond dew, so pure and clear, 
It rivals all but Beauty's tear. 

in. 
At length they came where, stern and steep, 2 
The hill sinks down upon the deep. 
Here Vennachar in silver flows, 
There, ridge on ridge, Benledi rose ; 
Ever the hollow path twined on, 
Beneath steep bank and threatening stone ; 
An hundred men might hold the post 
With hardihood against a host. 

1 The Scottish Highlander calls himself Gael, or Gaul, and 
terms the Lowlanders, Sassenach, or Saxons. 

2 MS. : " At length they paced the mountain's side, 

And saw beneath the waters wide." 



1 80 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

The rugged mountain's scanty cloak 
Was dwarfish shrubs of birch and oak, 1 
With shingles bare, and cliffs between, 
And patches bright of bracken green, 
And heather black, that waved so high, 
It held the copse in rivalry. 
But where the lake slept, deep and still, 
Dank osiers fringed the swamp and hill ; 
And oft both path and hill were torn, 
Where wintry torrents down had borne, 
And heap'd upon the cumber'd land 
Its wreck of gravel, rocks, and sand. 
So toilsome was the road to trace, 
The guide, abating of his pace, 
Led slowly through the pass's jaws, 
And ask'd Fitz-James by what strange cause 
He sought these wilds, traversed by few, 
^Without a pass from Roderick Dhu. 



" Brave Gael, my pass in danger tried, 
Hangs in my belt, and by my side ; 
Yet, sooth to tell," the Saxon said, 
" I dreamt not now to claim its aid. 2 
When here, but three days since, I came, 
Bewilder'd in pursuit of game, 
All seem'd as peaceful and as still, 
As the mist slumbering on yon hill ; 



1 MS. : " The rugged mountain's stunted screen 

Was dwarfish \ \ with cliffs betw 

( copse J 

2 MS. : " I dreamed not now to draw my blade.' 



can-toy.] THE COMBAT. 1S1 

Thy dangerous Chief was then afar, 
Nor soon expected back from war. 
Thus said, at least, my mountain-guide, 
Though deep, perchance, the villain lied." 
" Yet why a second venture try? " 
" A warrior thou, and ask me why ! — 
Moves our free course by such fix'd cause 
As gives the poor mechanic laws? 
Enough, I sought to drive away 
The lazy hours of peaceful clay ; 
Slight cause will then suffice to guide 
A Knight's free footsteps far and wide, — 1 
A falcon flown, a greyhound stray'd, 
The merry glance of mountain maid : 
Or, if a path be dangerous known, 
The danger's self is lure alone. 11 



" Thy secret keep, I urge thee not ; — 2 

Yet, ere again ye sought this spot, 

Say, heard ye naught of Lowland war, 

Against Clan-Alpine, rais'd by Mar? 11 

— " No, by my word : — of bands prepared 

To guard King James's sports I heard; 

Nor doubt I aught, but when they hear 

This muster of the mountaineer, 

Their pennons will abroad be flung, 

Which else in Doune had peaceful hung. 11 — 3 

1 MS. : " My errant footsteps ) , , . . „ 

,,.,,,,, , . M ar an " wide. 

A knight s bold wanderings ) 

2 MS. : "Thy secret keep, I ask it not." 

;; MS. : " Which else in hall had peaceful hung." 



1 82 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

" Free be they flung ! for we were loth 
Their silken folds should feast the moth. 
Free be they flung ! — as free shall wave 
Clan- Alpine's pine in banner brave. 
But, Stranger, peaceful since you came, 
Bewilder'd in the mountain-game, 
Whence the bold boast by which you show 
Vich-Alpine's vow'd and mortal foe ? " — 
" Warrior, but yester-morn, I knew 
Naught of thy Chieftain, Roderick Dhu, 
Save as an outlaw'd desperate man, 
The chief of a rebellious clan, 
Who in the Regent's court and sight, 
With ruffian dagger stabb'd a knight ; 
Yet this alone might from his part 
Sever each true and loval heart/ 1 



Wrathful at such arraignment foul, 

Dark lower'd the clansman's sable scowl. 

A space he paused, then sternly said, 

" And heard'st thou why he drew his blade? 

Heardst thou that shameful word and blow 

Brought Roderick's vengeance on his foe ? 

What reck'd the Chieftain if he stood 

On Highland heath, or Holy-Rood? 

He rights such wrong where it is given, 

If it were in the court of heaven." — 

" Still was it outrage ; — yet, 'tis true, 

Not then claim'd sovereignty his due ; 

While Albany, with feeble hand, 

Held borrow'd truncheon of command, 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. I03 

The young King, mew'd in Stirling tower, 
Was stranger to respect and power. 1 
But then, thy Chieftain's robber life ! — 
Winning mean prey by causeless strife, 
Wrenching from ruhvd Lowland swain 
His herds and harvest rear'd in vain, — 
Methinks a soul like thine should scorn 
The spoils from such foul foray borne/ 1 



VII. 

The Gael beheld him grim the while, 
And answered with disdainful smile, — 

1 There is scarcely a more disorderly period in Scottish his- 
tory than that which succeeded the battle of Flociden, and 
occupied the minority of James V. Feuds of ancient standing 
broke out like old wounds, and every quarrel among the inde- 
pendent nobility, which occurred daily, and almost hourly, 
gave rise to fresh bloodshed. " There arose," says Pitscottie, 
" great trouble and deadly feuds in many parts of Scotland, 
both in the north and west parts. The Master of Forbes, in 
the north, slew the Laird of Meldrum, under tryst ; " (i.e. at 
an agreed and secure meeting:} " Likewise, the Laird of Drum- 
melzier slew the Lord Fleming at the hawking ; and, likewise 
there was slaughter among many other great lords." p. 121. 
Nor was the matter much mended under the government of 
the Earl of Angus : for though he caused the King to ride 
through all Scotland, " under the pretence and color of justice, 
to punish thief and traitor, none were found greater than were 
in their own company ; and none at that time durst strive with 
a Douglas, nor yet a Douglas's man ; for if they would, they 
got the worst. Therefore, none durst plainzie of no extortion, 
theft, reiff, nor slaughter, done to them by the Douglasses, or 
their men ; in that cause they were not heard so long as the 
Douglas had the court in guiding." — Ibid. p. 133. 



1 84 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

" Saxon, from yonder mountain high, 
I mark'd thee send delighted eye 
Far to the south and east, where lay, 
Extended in succession gay, 
Deep waving fields and pastures green, 
With gentle slopes and groves between : — 
These fertile plains, that soften'd vale, 
Were once the birthright of the Gael ; 
The stranger came with iron hand, 
And from our fathers reft the land. 
Where dwell we now ? See rudely swell 
Crag over crag, and fell o'er fell. 
Ask we this savage hill we tread, 
For fatten'd steer or household bread, 
Ask we for flocks these shingles dry, 
And well the mountain might reply, — 
' To you, as to your sires of yore, 
Belong the target and claymore ! 
I give you shelter in my breast, 
Your own good blades must win the rest.' 
Pent in this fortress of the North, 
Think'st thou we will not sally forth, 
To spoil the spoiler as we may, 
And from the robber rend the prey ? 
Ay, by my soul! — While on yon plain 
The Saxon rears one shock of grain ; 
While, of ten thousand herds, there strays 
But one along yon river's maze, — 
The Gael, of plain and river heir, 
Shall, with strong hand, redeem his share. 
Where live the mountain Chiefs who hold 
That plundering Lowland field and fold 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 185 

Is aught but retribution true ? 

Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu. 11 — 1 



1 The ancient Highlanders verified in their practice the 
lines of Gray : — 

" An iron race the mountain cliffs maintain, 
Foes to the gentler genius of the plain; 
For where unwearied sinews must be found, 
With side-long plough to quell the flinty ground; 
To turn the torrent's swift descending flood; 
To tame the savage rushing from the wood; 
What wonder if, to patient valor train'd 
They guard with spirit what by strength they gain'd: 
And while their rocky ramparts round they see 
The rough abode of want and liberty, 
(As lawless force from confidence will grow), 
Insult the plenty of the vales below ? " 

Fragment on the Alliance of Education 
and Government. 

So far, indeed, was a Creagh, or foray, from being held 
disgraceful, that a young chief was always expected to show 
his talents for command so soon as he assumed it, by leading 
his clan on a successful enterprise of this nature, either against 
a neighboring sept, for which constant feuds usually fur- 
nished an apology, or against the Sasse?iach, Saxons, or 
Lowlanders, for which no apology was necessary. The Gael, 
great traditional historians, never forgot that the Lowlands 
had, at some remote period, been the property of their Celtic 
forefathers, which furnished an ample vindication of all the 
ravages that they could make on the unfortunate districts 
which lay within their reach. Sir James Grant of Grant is 
in possession of a letter of apology from Cameron of Lochiel, 
whose men had committed some depredation upon a farm 
called Moines, occupied by one of the Grants. Lochiel assures 
Grant, that, however the mistake had happened, his instruc- 
tions were precise, that the party should foray the province 
of Moray (a Lowland district), where, as he coolly observes, 
" all men take their prey." 



1 86 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

VIII. 

Answer'd Fitz-James, — - "And, if I sought, 

Think'st thou no other could be brought? 

What deem ye of my path waylaid ? 

My life given o'er to ambuscade ? " — 

"As of a meed to rashness due : 

Hadst thou sent warning fair and true, — 

I seek my hound, or falcon stray'd, 

I seek, good faith, a Highland maid, — 

Free hadst thou been to come and go, 

But secret path marks secret foe. 

Nor yet, for this, even as a spy, 

Hadst thou, unheard, been doonVd to die, 

Save to fulfil an augury. " — 

" Well, let it pass ; nor will I now 

Fresh cause of enmity avow, 

To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow. 

Enough, I am by promise tied 

To match me with this man of pride : 

Twice have I sought Clan-Alpine's glen 

In peace ; but when I come again, 

I come with banner, brand, and bow, 

As leader seeks his mortal foe. 

For love-lorn swain, in lady's bower, 

Ne'er panted for the appointed hour, 

As I, until before me stand 

This rebel Chieftain and his band ! " x 



1 MS. : " This dark Sir Roderick ) , , . , . . 
_,,. _,. . . \ and his band. 

This savage Chieftain J 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 187 



" Have, then, thy wish ! " — he whistled shrill, 

And he was answer' d from the hill ; 

Wild as the scream of the curlew, 

From crag to crag the signal flew. 1 

Instant, through copse and heath, arose 

Bonnets and spears and bended bows : 

On right, on left, above, below, 

Sprung up at once the lurking foe ; 

From shingles gray their lances start, 

The bracken brush sends forth the dart, 2 

The rushes and the willow-wand 

Are bristling into axe and brand, 

And every tuft of broom gives life 3 

To plaided warrior arm'd for strife. 

That whistle garrisoivd the glen 

At once with full five hundred men, 

As if the yawning hill to heaven 

A subterranean host had given. 4 

1 MS. : " From copse to copse the signal flew. 

Instant, through copse and crags arose." 

2 MS. : " The bracken bush shoots forth the dart." 

3 MS. : " And each lone tuft of broom gives life 

To plaided warrior arm'd for strife. 
That whistle manned the lonely glen 
With full five hundred armed men." 
4 The Monthly Review says : — " We now come to the chef- 
d'oeuvre of Walter Scott, — a scene of more vigour, nature, 
and animation, than any other in all his poetry." Another 
anonymous critic of the poem is not afraid to quote, with 
reference to the effect of this passage, the sublime language of 
the Prophet Ezekiel : — " Then said he unto me, Prophesy 
unto the wind, prophesy, sun of man, and say to the wind, 



1 88 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

Watching their leader's beck and will, 1 

All silent there they stood, and still. 

Like the loose crags whose threatening mass 

Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass, 

As if an infant's touch could urge 

Their headlong passage down the verge, 

With step and weapon forward flung, 

Upon the mountain-side they hung. 

The Mountaineer cast glance of pride 

Along Benledi's living side, 

Then fix'd his eye and sable brow 

Full on Fitz-James — " How say'st thou now? 

These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true ; 

And, Saxon, — I am Roderick Dhu ! M 

x. 

Fitz-James was brave : — though to his heart 
The life-blood thrill'd with sudden start, 
He mann'd himself with dauntless air, 
Return'd the Chief his haughty stare, 
His back against a rock he bore, 
And firmly placed his foot before : — 

Thus saith the Lord God ; Come from the four winds, O 
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So 
I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into 
them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceed- 
ing great army." — Chap, xxxvii. v. 9, 10. 

1 MS. : "All silent, too, they stood, and still, 

Watching their leader's beck and will, 
While forward step and weapon show 
They long to rush upon the foe, 
Like the loose crag, whose tottering mass 
Hung threatening o'er the hollow pass." 




•• ( !ome one. come all! this rock shall fly 
From its firm base as soon as I." 



CANTO v.] THE COMBAT. 1S9 

" Come one, come all ! this rock shall fly 

From its firm base as soon as I." 

Sir Roderick mark'd, — and in his eyes 

Respect was mingled with surprise, 

And the stern joy which warriors feel 

In foemen worth)' of their steel. 

Short space he stood — then waved his hand; 

Down sunk the disappearing band ; 

Each warrior vanish'd where he stood, 

In broom or bracken, heath or wood ; 

Sunk brand and spear and bended bow, 

In osiers pale and copses low ; 

It seem'd as if their mother Earth 

Had swallow'd up her warlike birth. 

The wind's last breath had toss'd in air, 

Pennon, and plaid, and plumage fair, — 

The next but swept a lone hill-side, 

Where heath and fern were waving wide ; 

The sun's last glance was glinted back 

From spear and glaive, from targe and jack, — 

The next, all unreflected, shone 

On bracken green and cold gray stone. 

XI. 

Fitz-James look*d round — yet scarce believed 

The witness that his sight received ; 

Such apparition well might seem 

Delusion of a dreadful dream. 

Sir Roderick in suspense he eyed, 

And to his look the Chief replied : 

" Fear naught — nay, that I need not say — 

But — doubt not aught from mine array. 



130 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

Thou art my guest ; — I pledged my word 

As far as Coilantogle ford : 

Nor would I call a clansman's brand 

For aid against one valiant hand, 1 

Though on our strife lay every vale 

Rent by the Saxon from the Gael. 2 

So move we on ; — I only meant 

To show the reed on which you leant, 

Deeming this path you might pursue 

Without a pass from Roderick Dim. 1 ' 3 

1 MS. : " For aid against one brave mans hand." 

2 " This scene is excellently described. The frankness and 
high-souled courage of the two warriors, — the reliance which 
the Lowlander places on the word of the Highlander to guide 
him safely on his way the next morning, although he has 
spoken threatening and violent words against Roderick, 
whose kinsman the mountaineer professes himself to be, — 
these circumstances are all admirably imagined and related." 
— Monthly Review. 

3 This incident, like some other passages in the poem, illus- 
trative of the character of the ancient Gael, is not imaginary, 
but borrowed from fact. The Highlanders, with the incon- 
sistency of most nations in the same state, were alternately 
capable of great exertions of generosity, and of cruel revenge 
and perfidy. The following story I can only quote from tra- 
dition, but with such an assurance from those by whom it was 
communicated, as permits me little doubt of its authenticity. 
Early in the last century, John Gunn, a noted Cateran, or 
Highland robber, infested Inverness-shire, and levied black- 
mail up to the walls of the provincial capital. A garrison was 
then maintained in the castle of that town, and their pay 
(country banks being unknown) was usually transmitted in 
specie, under the guard of a small escort. It chanced that 
the officer who commanded this little party was unexpectedly 
obliged to halt, about thirty miles from Inverness, at a miser- 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 19 1 

They moved : — I said Fitz-James was brave, 
As ever knight that belted glaive; 
Yet dare not say, that now his blood 
Kept on its wont and temperM flood, 
As, following Roderick's stride, he drew 
That seeming lonesome pathway through, 
Which yet, by fearful proof, was rife 
With lances, that, to take his life, 
able inn. About nightfall, a stranger, in the Highland dress, 
and of very prepossessing appearance, entered the same house. 
Separate accommodation being impossible, the Englishman 
offered the newly-arrived guest a part of his supper, which 
was accepted with reluctance, By the conversation he found 
his new acquaintance knew well all the passes of the country, 
which induced him eagerly to request his company on the 
ensuing morning, He neither disguised his business and 
charge, nor his apprehensions of that celebrated freebooter 
John Gunn.— The Highlander hesitated for a moment, and 
then frankly consented to be his guide. Forth they set in 
the morning; and, in travelling through a solitary and dreary 
glen, the discourse again turned on John Gunn. " Would 
you like to see him?" said the guide; and, without wait- 
ing an answer to his alarming question, he whistled, and the 
English officer, with his small party, were surrounded by a 
body of Highlanders, whose numbers put resistance out of 
question, and who were all well armed. " Stranger," re- 
sumed the guide, " I am that very John Gunn by whom you 
feared to be intercepted, and not without cause: fori came 
to the inn last night with the express purpose of learning your 
route, that I and my followers might ease you of your charge 
by the road. But I am incapable of betraying the trust you 
reposed in me, and having convinced you that you were in 
my power, I can only dismiss you unplundered and unin- 
jured." He then gave the officer directions for his journey, 
and disappeared with his party as suddenly as they had pre- 
sented themselves. 



192 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

Waited but signal from a guide, 
So late dishonored and defied. 
Ever, by stealth, his eye sought round 
The vanislVd guardians of the ground, 
And still, from copse and heather deep, 
Fancy saw spear and broadsword peep 1 
And in the plover's shrilly strain, 
The signal whistle heard again. 
Nor breathed he free till far behind 
The pass was left ; for then they wind 
Along a wide and level green, 
Where neither tree nor turf was seen, 
Nor rush nor bush of broom was near, 
To hide a bonnet or a spear. 



The Chief in silence strode before, 

And reach'd that torrent's sounding shore, 

Which, daughter of three mighty lakes, 

From Vennachar in silver breaks, 

Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines 

On Bochastle the mouldering lines, 2 

Where Rome, the Empress of the world, 

Of yore her eagle wings unfurTd. 3 

1 MS. : " And still from copse and heather bush, 

Fancy saw spear and broadsword rush." 

2 MS. : " On Bochastle the martial lines." 

3 The torrent which discharges itself from Loch Vennachar, 
the lowest and eastmost of the three lakes which form the 
scenery adjoining to the Trosachs, sweeps through a flat and 
extensive moor, called Bochastle. Upon a small eminence, 
called the Dun of Bochastle, and indeed on the plain itself 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 193 

And here his course the Chieftain staid, 
Threw down his target and his plaid, 
And to the Lowland warrior said : — 
" Bold Saxon ! to his promise just, 
Vich-Alpine has discharged his trust. 
This murderous Chief, this ruthless man, 
This head of a rebellious clan, 
Hath led thee safe, through watch and ward, 
Far past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard. 
Now, man to man, and steel to steel, 
A Chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel. 

are some intrenchments, which have been thought Roman. 
There is, adjacent to Callender, a sweet villa, the residence 
of Captain Fairfoul, entitled the Roman Camp. 

" One of the most entire and beautiful remains of a Roman 
encampment now to be found in Scotland, is to be seen at 
Ardoch, near Greenloaming, about six miles to the eastward 
of Dunblane. This encampment is supposed, on good 
grounds, to have been constructed during the fourth cam- 
paign of Agricola in Britain ; it is 1060 feet in length, and 
900 in breadth ; it could contain 26,000 men, according to 
the ordinary distribution of the Roman soldiers in their en- 
campments. There appears to have been three or four 
ditches, strongly fortified, surrounding the camp. The four 
entries crossing the lines are still to be seen distinctly. The 
general's quarter rises above the level of the camp, but is not 
exactly in the centre. It is a regular square of twenty yards 
enclosed with a stone wall, and containing the foundations of 
a house, thirty feet by twenty. There is a subterraneous com- 
munication with a smaller encampment at a little distance, in 
which several Roman helmets, spears, etc., have been found. 
From this camp at Ardoch, tin: great Roman highway runs 
east to Bertha, about fourteen miles distant, where the Roman 
army is believed 10 have passed over the Tay into Strath- 
more." — Graham. 



194 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

See, here all vantageless I stand, 
ArnVd like thyself, with single brand ; 1 
For this is Coilantogle ford, 
And thou must keep thee with thy sword. 1 ' 



XIII. 

The Saxon paused: " I ne'er delay 1 d, 

When foeman bade me draw my blade ; 

Nay, more, brave Chief, I vowed thy death ; 

Yet sure thy fair and generous faith, 

And my deep debt for life preserved, 

A better meed have well deserved ; 

Can nought but blood our feud atone ? 

Are there no means? " — " No, Stranger, none ! 

And here, — to fire thy flagging zeal, — 

The Saxon cause rests on thy steel ; 

For thus spoke Fate by prophet bred 

Between the living and the dead : 

1 Who spills the foremost foeman's life, 

His party conquers in the strife. 111 — 

" Then, by my word," the Saxon said, 

" The riddle is already read. 

Seek yonder brake beneath the cliff, — 

There lies Red Murdoch, stark and stiff. 

Thus Fate has solved her prophecy ; 

Then yield to Fate, and not to me. 

To James, at Stirling, let us go, 

When, if thou wilt be still his foe, 

Or if the King shall not agree 

To grant thee grace and favor free, 

1 See Appendix, Note N. 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 1 95 

I plight mine honor, oath, and word, 
That to thy native strengths restored, 
With each advantage shalt thou stand, 
That aids thee now to guard thy land.' 1 

XIV. 

Dark lightning flashed from Roderick's eye : x 

" Soars thy presumption, then, so high, 

Because a wretched kern ye slew, 

Homage to name of Roderick Dhu? 

He yields not, he, to man nor Fate ! 2 

Thou add'st but fuel to my hate ; — 

My clansman's blood demands revenge. 

Not yet prepared? — By heaven, I change 

My thought, and hold thy valor light 

As that of some vain carpet knight, 

Who ill deserved my courteous care, 

And whose best boast is but to wear 

A braid of his fair lady's hair." — 

" I thank thee, Roderick, for the word ! 

It nerves my heart, it steels my sword ; 

For I have sworn this braid to stain 

In the best blood that warms thy vein. 

Now, truce, farewell ! and, ruth, begone ! — 

Yet think not that by thee alone, 

Proud Chief ! can courtesy be shown ; 

Though not from copse, or heath, or cairn, 

Start at my whistle clansmen stern, 

Of this small horn one feeble blast 

Would fearful odds against thee cast. 

1 MS. : " In lightning flash'd the Chiefs dark eye." 

2 MS. : " He stoopsno\, he, to James nor Fate." 



196 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

But fear not — doubt not — which thou wilt — 
We try this quarrel hilt to hilt." 
Then each at once his falchion drew, 
Each on the ground his scabbard threw, 
Each look'd to sun, and stream, and plain, 
As what they ne'er might see again ; 
Then foot, and point, and eye opposed, 
In dubious strife they darkly closed. 1 

xv. 
Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, 
That on the field his targe he threw, 2 
Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide 
Had death so often dash'd aside ; 

1 " The two principal figures are contrasted with uncom- 
mon felicity. Fitz-James, who more nearly resembles the 
French Henry the Fourth than the Scottish James V., is gay, 
amorous, fickle, intrepid, impetuous, affectionate, courteous, 
graceful, and dignified. Roderick is gloomy, vindictive, ar- 
rogant, undaunted, but constant in his affections, and true to 
his engagements ; and the whole passage in which these per- 
sonages are placed in opposition, from their first meeting to 
their final conflict, is conceived and written with a sublimity 
which has been rarely equalled." — Quarterly Review, 1810. 

2 A round target of light wood, covered with strong leather 
and studded with brass or iron, was a necessary part of a 
Highlander's equipment. In charging regular troops, they 
received the thrust of the bayonet in this buckler, twisted it 
aside, and used the broadsword against the encumbered 
soldier. In the civil war of 1745, most of the front rank of 
the clans were thus armed ; and Captain Grose informs us, 
that in 1747, the privates of the 42d regiment, then in Flanders, 
were for the most part permitted to carry targets. — Military 
Antiquities, vol. i. p. 164. A person thus armed had a con. 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 197 

For, trairfd abroad his arms to wield, 
Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield. 1 

siderable advantage in private fray. Among verses between 
Swift and Sheridan, lately published by Dr. Barret, there is an 
account of such an encounter, in which the circumstances, and 
consequently the relative superiority of the combatants, are 
precisely the reverse of those in the text : — 

" A Highlander once fought a Frenchman at Margate. 
The weapons, a rapier, a backsword, and target; 
Brisk Monsieur advanced as fast as he could, 
But all his fine pushes were caught in the wood, 
And Sawney, with backsword, did slash him and nick him, 
While t'other, enraged that he could not once prick him, 
Cried, ' Sirrah, you rascal, you son of a whore, 
Me will fight you, be gar ! if you'll come from your door.' " 

1 The use of defensive armor, and particularly of the buck- 
ler, or target, was general in Queen Elizabeth's time, although 
that of the single rapier seems to have been occasionally prac- 
tised much earlier * Rowland Yorke, however, who betrayed 
the fort of Zutphen to the Spaniards, for which good service 
he was afterwards poisoned by them, is said to have been the 
first who brought the rapier-fight into general use. Fuller, 
speaking of the swash-bucklers, or bullies of Queen Elizabeth's 
time, says— " West Smithfield was formerly called Ruffians' 
Hall, where such men usually met, casually or otherwise, to 
trv masteries with sword and buckler. More were frightened 
than hurt, more hurt than killed therewith, it being accounted 
unmanly to strike beneath the knee. But since that desper- 
ate traitor Rowland Yorke first introduced thrusting with 
rapiers, sword and buckler are disused." In " The Two 
Angry Women of Abingdon," a comedy, printed in 1599, 
we have a pathetic complaint: — "Sword and buckler fight 
begins to grow out of use. I am sorry for it : I shall never 
see good manhood again. If it be once gone, this poking 
fight of rapier and dagger will come up ; then a tall man, and 

* See Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 61. 



193 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

He practised every pass and ward, 
To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard ; 
While less expert, though stronger far, 
The Gael maintain'd unequal war. 1 
Three times in closing strife they stood, 
And thrice the Saxon blade drank blood ; 
No stinted draught, no scanty tide, 
The gushing flood the tartans dyed. 
Fierce Roderick felt the fatal drain, 
And shower'd his blows like wintry rain ; 
And, as firm rock, or castle-roof, 
Against the winter shower is proof, 
The foe, invulnerable still, 
FoiPd his wild rage by steady skill ; 

a good sword-and-buckler man, will be spitted like a cat or 
rabbit." But the rapier had upon the continent long super- 
seded, in private duel, the use of sword and shield. The 
masters of the noble science of defence were chiefly Italians. 
They made great mystery of their art and mode of instruction, 
never suffered any person to be present but the scholar who 
was to be taught, and even examined closets, beds, and other 
places of possible concealment. Their lessons often gave the 
most treacherous advantages ; for the challenger, having a 
right to choose his weapons, frequently selected some strange, 
unusual, and inconvenient kind of arms, the use of which he 
practised under these instructors, and thus killed at his ease 
his antagonist, to whom it was presented for the first time on 
the field of battle. See Brantome's Discourse on Duels, and 
the work on the same subject, " si gentement ecrit" by the ven- 
erable Dr. Paris de Puteo. The Highlanders continued to 
use broadsword and target until disarmed after the affair of 
1745-6. 

1 MS. : " Not Roderick thus, though stronger far 
More tall and more inured to war." 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 199 

Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand 
Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand, 
And backward borne upon the lea, 
Brought the proud Chieftain to his knee. 1 



XVI. 

" Now, yield thee, or by Him who made 
The world, thy heart's blood dyes my blade 
" Thy threats, thy mercy, I defy ! 
Let recreant yield, who fears to die." 



m 



■ 2 



1 This couplet is not in the MS. 

2 I have not ventured to render this duel so savagely des- 
perate as that of the celebrated Sir Ewan of Lochiel, chief of 
the clan Cameron, called, from his sable complexion, Ewan 
Dhu. He was the last man in Scotland who maintained the 
royal cause during the great Civil War, and his constant in- 
cursions rendered him a very unpleasant neighbor to the 
republican garrison at Inverlochy, now Fort William. The 
governor of the fort detached a party of three hundred men 
to lay waste Lochiel's possessions, and cut down his trees ; 
but, in a sudden and desperate attack made upon them by the 
chieftain with very inferior numbers, they were almost all cut 
to pieces. The skirmish is detailed in a curious memoir of 
Sir Ewan's life, printed in the Appendix of Pennant's Scottish 
Tour. 

" In this engagement, Lochiel himself had several wonder- 
ful escapes. In the retreat of the English, one of the strongest 
and bravest of the officers retired behind a bush, when he ob- 
served Lochiel pursuing, and seeing him unaccompanied with 
any, he leapt out and thought him his prey. They met one 
another with equal fury. The combat was long and doubtful : 
the English gentleman had by far the advantage in strength 
and size; but Lochiel, exceeding him in nimbleness and 
agility, in the end tript the sword out of his hand : they closed 



200 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

— Like adder darting from his coil, 
Like wolf that dashes through the toil, 
Like mountain-cat who guards her young, 
Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung ; * 
Received, but reck'd not of a wound, 
And lock'd his arms his foeman round. — 
Now, gallant Saxon, hold thine own ! 
No maiden's hand is round thee thrown ! 
That desperate grasp thy frame might feel, 
Through bars of brass and triple steel ! — 
They tug, they strain ! down, down they go, 
The Gael above, Fitz-James below. 
The Chieftain's gripe his throat compress'd, 
His knee was planted on his breast ; 
His clotted locks he backward threw, 
Across his brow his hand he drew, 
From blood and mist to clear his sight, 
Then gleam'd aloft his dagger bright ! — 
But hate and fury ill supplied 
The stream of life's exhausted tide, 



and wrestled, till both fell to the ground in each other's arms. 
The English officer got above Lochiel, and pressed him hard, 
but stretching forth his neck by attempting to disengage him- 
self, Lochiel, who by this time had his hands at liberty, with 
his left hand seized him by the collar, and jumping at his ex- 
tended throat, he bit it with his teeth quite through, and kept 
such a hold of his grasp, that he brought away his mouthful ; 
this, he said, was the sweetest bit he ever had in his lifetime" — 
Vol. i. p. 375. 

1 MS. : " ' Yield they alone who fear to die.' 

Like mountain-cat who guards her young, 
Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung." 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 

And all too late the advantage came, 
To turn the odds of deadly game ; 
For, while the dagger gleam'd on high, 
Reel'd soul and sense, reel'd brain and eye. 
Down came the blow ! but in the heath 
The erring blade found bloodless sheath. 
The struggling foe may now unclasp 
The fainting Chief's relaxing grasp ; 
Unwounded from the dreadful close, 
But breathless all, Fitz-James arose. 1 



He falter'd thanks to Heaven for life, 

Redeem'd, unhoped, from desperate strife ; 2 

Next on his foe his look he cast, 

Whose every gasp appear'd his last ; 

In Roderick's gore he dipped the braid — 

" Poor Blanche ! thy wrongs are dearly paid ; 

Yet with thy foe must die, or live, 

The praise that Faith and Valor give." 

With that he blew a bugle-note, 

Undid the collar from his throat, 

Unbonneted, and by the wave 

Sate down his brow and hands to lave. 

Then faint afar are heard the feet 3 

Of rushing steeds in gallop fleet ; 

1 MS. : " Panting and breathless on the sands. 

But all unwounded, now he stands." 

2 MS. : " Redeem'd, unhoped, from deadly strife ; 

Next on his foe his look he \ , ' 
( threw, 

Whose every breath appear'd his last." 

3 MS. : " Faint and afar are heard the feet." 



202 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

The sounds increase, and now are seen 

Four mounted squires in Lincoln green ; 

Two who bear lance, and two who lead, 

By looseiVd rein, a saddled steed ; 

Each onward held his headlong course, 

And by Fitz-James rein'd up his horse, 

With wonder view'd the bloody spot — 

— " Exclaim not, gallants ! question not. — 

You, Herbert and Luffness, alight, 

And bind the wounds of yonder knight ; 

Let the gray palfrey bear his weight, 

We destined for a fairer freight, 

And bring him on to Stirling straight ; 

I will before at better speed, 

To seek fresh horse and fitting weed. 

The sun rides high ; — I must be boune, 

To see the archer game at noon ; j 

But lightly Bayard clears the lea. — 

De Vaux and Hemes, follow me. 



XVIII. 

" Stand, Bayard, stand!" — the steed obey'd, 

With arching neck and bended head, 

And glancing eye and quivering ear, 

As if he loved his lord to hear. 

No foot Fitz-James in stirrup staid, 

No grasp upon the saddle laid, 

But wreath'd his left hand in the mane, 

And lightly bounded from the plain, 

Turn'd on the horse his armed heel, 

And stirr'd his courage with the steel. 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 203 

Bounded the fiery steed in air, 

The rider sate erect and fair, 

Then like a bolt from steel crossbow 

Forth launch'd, along the plain they go. 

They dash'd that rapid current through, 

And up Carhonie's hill they flew ; 

Still at the gallop prick'd the Knight, 

His merrymen follow'd as they might. 

Along thy banks, swift Teith! they ride, 

And in the race they mock thy tide ; 

Torry and Lendrick now are past, 

And Deanstown lies behind them cast ; 

They rise, the banner* d towers of Doune, 1 

They sink in distant woodland soon ; 

Blair-Drummond sees the hoofs strike fire, 2 

They sweep like breeze through Ochtertyre ; 

They mark, just glance and disappear 

The lofty brow of ancient Kier ; 

They bathe their courser's sweltering sides, 

Dark Forth! amid thy sluggish tides, 

And on the opposing shore take ground, 

With plash, with scramble, and with bound. 

Right-hand they leave thy cliffs, Craig-Forth! 3 

And soon the bulwark of the North, 

1 The ruins of Doune Castle, formerly the residence of the 
Earls of Menteith, now the property of the Earl of Moray, are 
situated at the confluence of the Ardoch and the Teith. 

2 MS. : " Blair-Drummond sazu their hoofs of fire'' 

3 It may be worth noting that the poet marks the progress 
of the King by naming in succession places familiar and dear 
to his own early recollections — Blair-Drummond, the seat of 
the Homes of Kaimes ; Kier, that of the principal family of the 
name of Stirling; Ochtertyre, that of John Ramsay, the well- 



204 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

Gray Stirling, with her towers and town, 
Upon their fleet career looked down. 

XIX. 

As up the flinty path they strain'd, 1 

Sudden his steed the leader rein'd ; 

A signal to his squire he flung, 

Who instant to his .stirrup sprung : — 

" Seest thou, De Vaux, yon woodsman gray, 

Who town-ward holds the rocky way, 

Of stature tall and poor array? 

Mark'st thou the firm, yet active stride, 

With which he scales the mountain-side ? 2 

Know'st thou from whence he comes, or whom ? " 

" No, by my word ; — a burly groom 

He seems, who in the field or chase 

A baron's train would nobly grace. " — 

"Out, out, De Vaux ! can fear supply, 

And jealousy, no sharper eye? 

Afar, ere to the hill he drew, 

That stately form and step I knew ; 

Like form in Scotland is not seen, 

Treads not such step on Scottish green. 

'Tis James of Douglas, by Saint Serle ! 3 

The uncle of the banished Earl. 

known antiquary, and correspondent of Burns ; and Craig- 
forth, that of the Callenders of Craigforth, almost under the 
walls of Stirling Castle ; — all hospitable roofs, under which he 
had spent many of his younger days. — Ed. 

1 MS. : " As Up the steepy path they strain'd." 

2 MS.: " With which he gains the mountain-side." 

3 The Edinburgh Reviewer remarks on " that unhappy 
couplet,* where the King himself is in such distress for a 



canto v.] THE COMB A T. 205 

Away, away, to court, to show 

The near approach of dreaded foe : 

The King must stand upon his guard ; 

Douglas and lie must meet prepared." 

Then right-hand wheel'd their steeds, and straight 

They won the castle's postern gate. 



The Douglas, who had bent his way 

From Cambus-Kenneth's abbey gray, 

Now, as he climbed the rocky shelf, 

Held sad communion with himself: 

" Yes ! all is true my fears could frame ; 

A prisoner lies the noble Gramme, 

And fiery Roderick soon will feel 

The vengeance of the royal steel, 

I, only I, can ward their fate, — 

God grant the ransom come not late! 

The Abbess hath her promise given, 

My child shall be the bride of Heaven; — 

Be pardon'd one repining tear! 

For He, who gave her, knows how dear, 

How excellent ! — but that is by. 

And now my business is — to die. — 

Ye towers ! within whose circuit dread 

A Douglas by his sovereign bled ; 

rhyme as to be obliged to apply to one of the obscurest 
saints in the calendar." The reading of the MS. is — 

" 'Tis James of Douglas, by my word, 
The uncle of the banish'd lord." 



206 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

And thou, O sad and fatal mound! l 
That oft has heard the death-axe sound, 
As on the noblest of the land 
Fell the stern headsman's bloody hand, — ■ 
The dungeon, block, and nameless tomb, 
Prepare — for Douglas seeks his doom ! 
But hark! what blithe and jolly peal 
Makes the Franciscan steeple reel ? 

1 An eminence on the north-east of the Castle, where state 
criminals were executed. Stirling was often polluted with 
noble blood. It is thus apostrophized by J. Johnston : 

" Discordia tristis 

Heu quoties procerum sanguine tinxit humum 

Hoc uno infelix, et felix cetera; nusquam 
Lsetior aut cceli frons geniusve soli." 

The fate of William, eighth Earl of Douglas, whom James 
II. stabbed in Stirling Castle with his own hand, and while 
under his royal safe-conduct, is familiar to all who read Scot- 
tish history. Murdack, Duke of Albany, Duncan, Earl of 
Lennox, his father-in-law, and his two sons, Walter and 
Alexander Stuart, were executed at Stirling, in 1425. They 
were beheaded upon an eminence without the castle walls, 
but making part of the same hill, from whence they could 
behold their strong castle of Doune, and their extensive pos- 
sessions. This " heading hill," as it was sometimes termed, 
bears commonly the less terrible name of Hurly-hacket, from 
its having been the scene of a courtly amusement alluded to 
by Sir David Lindsay, who says of the pastimes in which the 
young king was engaged : 

" Some harled him to the Hurly-hacket; " 

which consisted in sliding — in some sort of chair, it may be 
supposed, — from top to bottom of a smooth bank. The boys 
of Edinburgh, about twenty years ago, used to play at hurly- 
hacket, on the Calton Hill, using for their seat a horse's skull. 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 207 

And see ! upon the crowded street, 

In motley groups what masquers meet ! 

Banner and pageant, pipe and drum, 

And merry morrice-dancers come. 

I guess, by all this quaint array, 

The burghers hold their sports to-day, 1 

James will be there, he loves such show, 

Where the good yoeman bends his bow, 

And the tough wrestler foils his foe, 

As well as where, in high career, 

The high-born tilter shivers spear. 

I'll follow to the castle-park, 

And play my prize ; — King James shall mark, 

If age has tamed these sinews stark, 

Whose force so oft, in happier days, 

His boyish wonder loved to praise." 

XXI. 

The Castle gates were open flung, 

The quivering drawbridge rock'd and rung, 

And echo'd loud the flinty street 

Beneath the coursers' clattering feet, 

As slowly down the steep descent 

Fair Scotland's King and nobles went, 2 

While all along the crowded way 

Was jubilee and loud huzza. 

1 See Appendix, Note O. 

2 MS. : " King James and all his nobles went 

Ever the King was bending low- 
To his white jennet's saddle-bow, 
Doffing his eap to burgher dame. 
Who smiling blush 'd for pride and shame." 



208 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

And ever James was bending low, 

To his white jennet's saddle-bow, 

Doffing his cap to city dame, 

Who smiled and blush'd for pride and shame, 

And well the simperer might be vain, — 

He chose the fairest of the train. 

Gravely he greets each city sire, 

Commends each pageant's quaint attire, 

Gives to the dancers thanks aloud, 

And smiles and nods upon the crowd, 

Who rend the heavens with their acclaims, 

" Long live the Commons' King, King James!" 

Behind the King throng'd peer and knight, 

And noble dame and damsel bright, 

Whose fiery steeds ill brook'd the stay 

Of the steep street and crowded way. 

But in the train you might discern 

Dark lowering brow and visage stern ; 

There nobles mourn'd their pride restrain'd, 1 

And the mean burgher's joys disdain'd ; 

And chiefs, who, hostage for their clan, 

Were each from home a banish'd man, 

There thought upon their own gray tower, 

Their waving woods, their feudal power, 

1 MS. : " Nobles who mourn'd their power restrain'd, 
And the poor burgher's joys disdain'd; 
Dark chief, who, hostage for his clan, 
Was from his home a banish'd man, 
Who thought upon his own gray tower, 
The waving woods, his feudal bower, 
And deem'd himself "a shameful part 
Of pageant that he cursed in heart." 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 209 

And deem'd themselves a shameful part 
Of pageant which they cursed in heart. 



Now, in the Castle-park drew out 
Their checker d bands the joyous rout. 
Their morricers, with bell at heel, 
And blade in hand, their mazes wheel ; * 
]kit chief, beside the butts, there stand 
Bold Robin Hood 2 and all his band, — 

1 MS. adds : 

" With awkward stride there city groom 
Would part of fabled knight assume." 

2 The exhibition of this renowned outlaw and his band was 
a favorite frolic at such festivals as we are describing. This 
sporting, in which kings did not disdain to be actors, was 
prohibited in Scotland upon the Reformation, by a statute 
of the sixth Parliament of Queen Mary, c. 61, A.D. 1555, 
which ordered, under heavy penalties, that " na manner of 
person be chosen Robert Hude, nor little John, Abbot of 
Unreason, Queen of May, nor otherwise." But in 1561, the 
" rascal multitude," says John Knox, " were stirred up to 
make a Robin Hude, whilk enormity was of many years 
left and damned by statute and act of Parliament; yet 
would they not be forbidden." Accordingly they raised a 
very serious tumult, and at length made prisoners the mag- 
istrates who endeavored to suppress it, and would not re- 
lease them till they extorted a formal promise that no one 
should be punished for his share of the disturbance. It 
would seem, from the complaints of the General Assembly 
of the Kirk, that these profane festivities were continued 
down to 1592* Bold Robin was, to say the least, equally 
successful in maintaining his ground against the reformed 

* Book of the Universal Kirk, p. 414. 



210 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

Friar Tuck with quarterstaff and cowl, 
Old Scathelocke with his surly scowl, 
Maid Marion, fair as ivory bone, 
Scarlet, and Mutch, and Little John ; 
Their bugles challenge all that will, 
In archery to prove their skill. 
The Douglas bent a bow of might, — 
His first shaft centered in the white, 
And when in turn he shot again, 
His second split the first in twain. 
From the King's hand must Douglas take 
A silver dart, the archer's stake ; 
Fondly he watched with watery eye, 1 
Some answering glance of sympathy, — 
No kind emotion made reply ! 

clergy of England; for the simple and evangelical Latimer 
complains of coming to a country church, where the people 
refused to hear him, because it was Robin Hood's day; 
and his mitre and rochet were fain to give way to the vil- 
lage pastime. Much curious information on this subject 
may be found in the Preliminary Dissertation to the late 
Mr. Ritson's edition of the songs respecting this memorable 
outlaw. The game of Robin Hood was usually acted in 
May; and he was associated with the morrice-dancers, on 
whom so much illustration has been bestowed by the com- 
mentators on Shakspeare. A very lively picture of these 
festivities, containing a great deal of curious information on 
the subject of the private life and amusements of our ances- 
tors, was thrown by the late ingenious Mr. Strutt, into his 
romance entitled Queen-hoo Hall, published after his death, 
in 1808. 

1 MS. : " Fondly he watch'd with watery eye, 

For answering glance of sympathy, — 

But ?io emotion made reply ! 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 211 

Indifferent as to archer wight, 

The monarch gave the arrow bright. 1 

Indifferent as to unknown | . 
Cold as to unknown yoeman J & ' 
The King gave forth the arrow bright." 
1 The Douglas of the poem is an imaginary person, a sup- 
posed uncle of the Earl of Angus. But the king's behavior 
during an unexpected interview with the Laird of Kilspindie, 
one of the banished Douglasses, under circumstances similar 
to those in the text, is imitated from a real story told by Hume 
of Godscroft. I would have availed myself more fully of the 
simple and affecting circumstances of the old history, had they 
not been already woven into a pathetic ballad by my friend 
Mr. Finlay* 

" His (the king's) implacability (towards the family of 
Douglas) did also appear in his carriage towards Archibald 
of Kilspindie, whom he, when he was a child, loved singularly 
well for his ability of body, and was wont to call him his Grey- 
Steill.f Archibald, being banished into England, could not 
well comport with the humor of that nation, which he thought 
to be too proud, and that they had too high a conceit of them- 
selves, joined with a contempt and despising of all others. 
Wherefore being wearied of that life, and remembering the 
king's favor of old towards him, he determined to try the 
king's mercifulness and clemency. So he comes into Scot- 
land, and taking occasion of the king's hunting in the park 
of Stirling, he casts himself to be in his way, as he was com- 
ing home to the castle. So soon as the king saw him afar off, 
ere he came near, he guessed it was he, and said to one of his 
courtiers, Yonder is my Grey-Steill, Archibald of Kilspindie, 
if he be alive. The other answered that it could not be he, 
and that he durst not come into the king's presence. The 
king approaching, he fell upon his knees and craved pardon, 

* See Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads. Glasgow, 1808, 
vol. ii. p. 117. . 

f A champion of popular romance. See Ellis's Romances, vol. iii. 



2 1 2 THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

xxiii. 
Now, clear the ring ! for, hand to hand, 
The manly wrestlers take their stand. 
Two o'er the rest superior rose, 
And proud demanded mightier foes, — 

and promised from thenceforward to abstain from meddling 
in public affairs, and to lead a quiet and private life. The 
king went by without giving him any answer, and trotted a 
good round pace up the bill. Kilspindie followed, and, 
though he wore on him a secret, or shirt of mail, for his 
particular enemies, was as soon at the castle gate as the king. 
There sat him down upon a stone without, and entreated 
some of the king's servants for a cup of drink, being weary 
and thirsty ; but they, fearing the king's displeasure, durst give 
him none. When the king was set at his dinner, he asked 
what he had done, what he had said, and whither he had 
gone? It was told him that he had desired a cup of drink and 
had gotten none. The king reproved them very sharply for their 
discourtesy, and told them, that if he had not taken an oath 
that no Dougias should ever serve him, he would have re- 
ceived him into his service, for he had seen him sometime a 
man of great ability. Then he sent him word to go to Leith, 
and expect his further pleasure. Then some kinsman of 
David Falconer, the cannonier, that was slain at Tantallon, 
began to quarrel with Archibald about the matter, wherewith 
the king showed himself not well pleased when he heard of it. 
Then he commanded him to go to France for a certain space, 
till he heard further from him. And so he did, and died 
shortly after. This gave occasion to the King of England 
(Henry VIII.) to blame his nephew, alleging the old saying, 
That a king's face should give grace. For this Archibald 
(whatsoever were Angus's or Sir George's fault) had not 
been principal actor for anything, nor no counsellor nor 
stirrer up, but only a follower of his friends, and that noways 
cruelly disposed." — Hume of Godscro/t, ii. 107. 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 213 

Nor call'd in vain ; for Douglas came. — 
For life is Hugh of Larbert lame ; 
Scarce better John of Alloa's fare, 
Whom senseless home his comrades bare. 
Prize of the wrestling match, the King 
To Douglas gave a golden ring, 1 
While coldly glanced his eye of blue, 
As frozen drop of wintry dew. 
Douglas would speak, but in his breast 
His struggling soul his words suppress'd ; 
Indignant then he turn'd him where 
Their arms the brawny yeomen bare, 
To hurl the massive bar in air. 
When each his utmost strength had shown, 
The Douglas rent an earth-fast stone 

1 The usual prize of a wrestling was a ram and a ring, but 
the animal would have embarrassed my story. Thus, in the 
" Cokes Tale of Gamelyn," ascribed to Chaucer : — 

" There happed to be there beside 
Tryed a wrestling; 
And therefore there was y-setten 
A ram and als a ring." 

Again the " Litil Geste of Robin Hood " : 

" By a bridge was a wrestling, 

And there taryed was he, 
And there was all the best yemen 

Of all the west countrey. 
A full fayre game there was set up, 

A white bull up y-pight, 
A great courser with saddle and brydle, 

With gold burnished full bryght; 
A payre of gloves, a red gold ringe, 

A pipe of wyne, good fay; 
What man bereth him best, I wis, 

The prize shall bear away." 

RlTSON's Robin Hood, vol. i. 



214 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

From its deep bed, then heaved it high, 

And sent the fragment through the sky 

A rood beyond the farthest mark ; 

And still in Stirling's royal park, 

The gray-hair 1 d sires, who know the past, 

To strangers point the Douglas cast, 

And moralize on the decay 

Of Scottish strength in modern day. 1 

XXIV. 

The vale with loud applauses rang, 
The Ladies 1 Rock sent back the clang. 
The King, with look unmov'd, bestow'd 
A purse well filPd with pieces broad. 2 
Indignant smiled the Douglas proud, 
And threw the gold among the crowd, 3 | 
Who now, with anxious wonder scan, 
And sharper glance the dark gray man ; 
Till whispers rose among the throng, 
That heart so free and hand so strong, 
Must to the Douglas blood belong. 
The old men mark'd, and shook the head, 
To see his hair with silver spread, 
And wink'd aside, and told each son, 
Of feats upon the English done, 
Ere Douglas of the stalwart hand 4 
Was exiled from his native land. 

1 MS. : " Of mortal strength in modern day." 

2 MS. : " A purse weigh' d down with pieces broad." 

3 MS. : " Scattered the gold among the crowd." 

4 MS. : " Ere James of Douglas stalwart hand." 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 215 

The women prais'd his stately form, 
Though wreck'd by many a winter's storm ; x 
The youth with awe and wonder saw 
His strength surpassing Nature's law. 
Thus judged, as is their wont, the crowd, 
Till murmur rose to clamors loud. 
But not a glance from that proud ring 
Of peers who circled round the King, 
With Douglas held communion kind, 
Or caird the banish'd man to mind ; ' 2 
No, not from those who, at the chase, 
Once held his side the honor'd place, 
Begirt his board, and in the field, 
Found safety underneath his shield ; 
For he, whom royal eyes disown, 
When was his form to courtiers known ! 



The monarch saw the gambols flag, 

And bade let loose a gallant stag, 

Whose pride the holiday to crown, 

Two favorite greyhounds should pull down. 

That venison free, and Bordeaux wine, 

Might serve the archery to dine. 

But Lufra, — whom from Douglas 1 side 

Nor bribe nor threat could ere divide, 

The fleetest hound in all the North, — 

Brave Lufra saw, and darted forth. 

She left the royal hounds mid-way, 

And dashing on the antler'd prey, 

1 MS. : " Though worn by many a winter storm." 

2 MS. : " Or called his stately form to mind." 



216 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

Sunk her sharp muzzle in his flank, 

And deep the flowing life-blood drank. 

The King's stout huntsman saw the sport, 

By strange intruder broken short, 

Came up, and, with his leash unbound, 

In anger struck the noble hound. 

The Douglas had endured, that morn, 

The King's cold look, the nobles 1 scorn, 

And last, and worst to spirit proud, 

Had borne the pity of the crowd ; 

But Lufra had been fondly bred, 

To share his board, to watch his bed, 

And oft would Ellen, Lufra's neck 

In maiden glee with garlands deck ; 

They were such playmates, that with name 

Of Lufra, Ellen's image came. 

His stifled wrath is brimming high, 

In darken'd brow and flashing eye ; 

As waves before the bark divide, 

The crowd gave way before his stride ; 

Needs but a buffet and no more, 

The groom lies senseless in his gore. 

Such blow no other hand could deal, 

Though gauntleted in glove of steel. 

XXVI. 

Then clamor'd loud the royal train, 1 
And brandish'd swords and staves amain. 
But stern the Baron's warning: " Back! 2 
Back, on your lives, ye menial pack! 

1 MS. : " Clamor'd his comrades of the train." 

2 MS k : " But stern the warrior's warning — ' Back ! ' " 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 217 

Beware the Douglas. — Yes ! behold, 

King James ! The Douglas, doonVcl of old, 

And vainly sought for near and far, 

A victim to atone the war, 

A willing victim, now attends, 

Nor craves thy grace but for his friends. 11 — 

" Thus is my clemency repaid ? 

Presumptuous Lord! " the Monarch said; 

" Of thy misproud, ambitious clan, 

Thou, James of Bothwell, wert the man, 

The only man, in whom a foe 

My woman-mercy would not know: 

But shall a Monarch's presence brook 1 

Injurious blow, and haughty look ? — 

What ho! The Captain of our Guard! 

Give the offender fitting ward. — 

Break off the sports ! " — for tumult rose, 

And yeomen ^an to bend their bows, — 

" Break off the sports! " he said, and frown'd, 

" And bid our horsemen clear the ground." 

XXVII. 

Then uproar wild and misarray 
Marr'd the fair form of festal day. 
The horsemen priek'd among the crowd, 
Repell'd by threats and insult loud : 2 
To earth are borne the old and weak, 
The timorous fly, the women shriek; 

1 MS.: " But in my court, injurious blow, 

And bearded thus, and thus out-dared ? 
What ho ! the Captain of our guard ! " 

2 MS. : " Their threats repell'd by insult loud." 



218 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 

With flint, with shaft, with staff, with bar, 

The hardier urge tumultuous war. 

At once round Douglas darkly sweep 

The royal spears in circle deep, 

And slowly scale the pathway steep, 

While on the rear in thunder pour 

The rabble with disordered roar. 

With grief the noble Douglas saw 

The Commons rise against the law, 

And to the leading soldier said : 

" Sir John of Hyndford ! 'twas my blade 

That knighthood on thy shoulder laid ; 

For that good deed, permit me then 

A word with these misguided men. 

XXVIII. 

" Hear, gentle friends ! ere yet for me, 

Ye break the bands of fealty. 

My life, my honor, and my cause, 

I tender free to Scotland's laws. 

Are these so weak as must require 

The aid of your misguided ire ? 

Or if I suffer causeless wrong, 

Is then my selfish rage so strong, 

My sense of public weal so low, 

That, for mean vengeance on a foe, 

Those cords of love I should unbind, 

Which knit my country and my kind? 

Oh no ! Believe in yonder tower 

It will not soothe my captive hour, 

To know those spears our foes should dread, 

For me in kindred gore are red : 



canto v.] THE COMB A T. 

To know, in fruitless brawl begun 
For me, that mother wails her son. 
For me, that widow's mate expires, 
For me, that orphans weep their sires, 
That patriots mourn insulted laws, 
And curse the Douglas for the cause. 
O let your patience ward such ill, 
And keep your right to love me still! " 



The crowd's wild fury sunk again 1 
In tears, as tempests melt in rain. 
With lifted hands and eyes, they pray'd 
For blessings on his generous head, 
Who for his country felt alone, 
And prized her blood beyond his own. 
Old men, upon the verge of life, 
Bless'd him who stayed the civil strife ; 
And mothers held their babes on high, 
The self-devoted Chief to spy, 
Triumphant over wrongs and ire, 
To whom the prattlers owed a sire : 
Even the rough soldier's heart was moved 
As if behind some bier beloved, 
With trailing arms and drooping head, 
The Douglas up the hill he led, 
And at the castle's battled verge, 
With sighs resign'd his honor'd charge. 

1 MS. : "The crowd's wild fury ebb'd amain 
In tears, as teinpests sink in rain." 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto v. 
XXX. 

The offended Monarch rode apart, 
With bitter thought and swelling heart, 
And would not now vouchsafe again 
Through Stirling streets to lead his train. 
" O Lennox, who would wish to rule 
This changeling crowd, this common fool? 
Hear'st thou," he said, " the loud acclaim 
With which they shout the Douglas name ? 
With like acclaim, the vulgar throat 
Strain'd for King James their morning note ; 
With like acclaim they hail'd the day 
When first I broke the Douglas sway ; 
And like acclaim would Douglas greet, 
If he could hurl me from my seat. 
Who o'er the herd would wish to reign, 
Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain! 
Vain as the leaf upon the stream, 1 
And fickle as a changeful dream ; 
Fantastic as a woman's mood, 
And fierce as Frenzy's fever'd blood. 
Thou many-headed monster thing, 2 
O who would wish to be thy king? — 



" But soft ! what messenger of speed 
Spurs hitherward his panting steed ? 

1 MS. : " Vain as the sick man's idle dream." 

2 " Who deserves greatness, 

Deserves your hate ; and your affections are 
A sick man's appetite, who desires most that 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 221 

I guess his cognizance afar — 

What from our cousin, John of Mar? 11 

" He prays, my liege, your sports keep bound 

Within the safe and guarded ground ; 

For some foul purpose yet unknown, — 

Most sure for evil to the throne, — 

The outlawed Chieftain, Roderick Dhu, 

Has summon'd his rebellious crew ; 

Tis said, in James of Bothwell's aid 

These loose banditti stand arrayed. 

The Earl of Mar, this morn, from Doune, 

To break their muster march'd, and soon 

Your grace will hear of battle fought ; 

But earnestly the Earl besought, 

Till for such danger he provide, 

With scanty train you will not ride. 111 

XXXII. 

" Thou warn'st me I have done amiss, — 
I should have earlier looked to this ; 
I lost it in this bustling day. — 
Retrace with speed thy former way ; 
Spare not for spoiling of thy steed, 
The best of mine shall be thy meed. 

Which would increase his evil. He that depends 

Upon your favors, swims with fins of lead, 

And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye ! Trust ye ? 

With every minute you do change a mind ; 

And call him noble, that was now your hate, 

Him vile that was your garland." 

Coriolartus, Act I. Scene I. 
1 MS. : " On distant chase you will not ride." 



THE LAD Y OF THE LAKE, [canto v 

Say to our faithful Lord of Mar, 

We do forbid the intended war ; 

Roderick, this morn, in single fight, 

Was made our prisoner by a knight ; 

And Douglas hath himself and cause 

Submitted to our kingdom's laws. 

The tidings of their leaders lost 

Will soon dissolve the mountain host, 

Nor would we that the vulgar feel, 

For their Chiefs crimes avenging steel. 

Bear Mar our message, Braco, fly ! " 

He turn'd his steed, — " My liege, I hie, — 

Yet, ere I cross this lily lawn, 

I fear the broadswords will be drawn." 

The turf the flying courser spurn'd, 

And to his towers the Kins: return'd. 



Ill with King James's mood that day, 
Suited gay feast and minstrel lay ; 
Soon were dismiss'd the courtly throng, 
And soon cut short the festal song. 
Nor less upon the sadden'd town 
The evening sunk in sorrow down. 
The burghers spoke of civil jar, 
Of rumor'd feuds and mountain war, 
Of Moray, Mar, and Roderick Dhu, 
All up in arms ; — the Douglas, too, 
They moura'd him pent within the hold, 
" Where stout Earl William was of old. 11 

1 Stabbed by James II. in Stirling Castle. 



canto v.] THE COMBAT. 223 

And there his word the speaker staid, 
And finger on his lip he laid, 
Or pointed to his dagger blade. 
But jaded -horsemen, from the west, 
" At evening to the Castle press'd, 
And busy talkers said they bore 
Tidings of fight on Katrine's shore ; 
At noon the deadly fray begun, 
And lasted till the set of sun. 
Thus giddy rumor shook the town, 
Till closed the Night her pennons brown. 



CANTO SIXTH. 



The sun, awakening, through the smoky air 

Of the dark city casts a sullen glance, 
Rousing each caitiff to his task of care, 

Of sinful man the sad inheritance ; 
Summoning revellers from the lagging dance, 

Scaring the prowling robber to his den ; 
Gilding on battled tower the warder's lance, 

And warning student pale to leave his pen, 
And yield his drowsy eyes to the kind nurse of men. 

What various scenes, and O, what scenes of woe, 

Are witness'd by that red and struggling beam ! 
The fever'd patient, from his pallet low, 

Through crowded hospital beholds its stream ; 
The ruin'd maiden trembles at its gleam, 

The debtor wakes to thought of gyve and jail, 
The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting dream ; 

The wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale, 
Trims her sick infant's couch, and soothes his feeble 
wail. 
224 




At dawn the towers of Stirling rang 
With soldier-step and weapon-clang. 



canto vi.] THE G UARD-R OM. 225 

11. 
At dawn the towers of Stirling rang 
With soldier-step and weapon-clang, 
While drums, with rolling note, foretell 
Relief to weary sentinel. 
Through narrow loop and casement barr'd, 1 
The sunbeams sought the Court of Guard, 
And, struggling with the smoky air, 
Deaden'd the torches 1 yellow glare. 
In comfortless alliance shone 2 
The lights through arch of blacken'd stone, 
And show'd wild shapes in garb of war, 
Faces deformed with beard and scar, 
All haggard from the midnight watch, 
And fever'd with the stern debauch ; 
For the oak table's massive board, 
Flooded with wine, with fragments stored, 
And beakers drain'd, and cups o'erthrown, 
Show'd in what sport the night had flown. 
Some, weary, snored on floor and bench ; 
Some labord still their thirst to quench ; 
Some, chill'd with watching, spread their hands 
O'er the huge chimney's dying brands, 
W T hile round them, or beside them flung, 
At every step their harness rung. 

in. 
These drew not for their fields the sword, 
Like tenants of a feudal lord, 
1 MS. : " Through blacken'd arch and casement barr'd." 
- MS. : "The lights in strange alliance shone 
Beneath the arch of blacken'd stone." 



226 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

Nor own'd the patriarchal claim, 

Of Chieftain in their leader's name ; 

Adventurers they, from far who roved, 

To live by battle which they loved. 1 

There the Italian's clouded face, 

The swarthy Spaniard's there you trace ; 

The mountain-loving Switzer there 

More freely breathed in mountain-air ; 

The Fleming there despised the soil, 

That paid so ill the laborer's toil ; 

Their rolls show'd French and German name ; 

And merry England's exiles came, 

To share, with ill-conceal'd disdain, 

Of Scotland's pay the scanty gain. 

All brave in arms, well train'd to wield 

The heavy halberd, brand, and shield ; 

In camps licentious, wild, and bold; 

In pillage fierce and uncontroll'd ; 

And now, by holytide and feast, 

From rules of discipline released. 



IV. 

They held debate of bloody fray, 
Fought 'twixt Loch Katrine and Achray. 
Fierce was their speech, and, 'mid their words, 
Their hands oft grappled to their swords ; 
Nor sunk their tone to spare the ear 
Of wounded comrades groaning near, 
Whose mangled limbs, and bodies gored, 
Bore token of the mountain sword, 

1 See Appendix, Note P. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 227 

Though, neighboring to the Court of Guard, 

Their prayers and feverish wails were heard ; 

Sad burden to the ruffian joke, 

And savage oath by fury spoke ! — 1 

At length up started John of Brent, 

A yoeman from the banks of Trent ; 

A stranger to respect or fear, 

In peace a chaser of the deer, 

In host a hardy mutineer, 

But still the boldest of the crew 

When deed of danger was to do. 

He grieved, that day, their games cut short, 

And marr'd the dicer's brawling sport, 

And shouted loud, " Renew the bowl ! 

And, while a merry catch I troll, 

Let each the buxom chorus bear, 

Like brethren of the brand and spear." 

v. 
soldier's song. 
Our vicar still preaches that Peter and Poule 
Laid a swinging long curse on the bonny brown bowl. 
That there's wrath and despair in the jolly black-jack, 
And the seven deadly sins in a flagon of sack ; 
Yet whoop, Barnaby ! off with thy liquor, 
Drink upsees 2 out, and a fig for the vicar ! 

Our vicar he calls it damnation to sip 
The ripe ruddy dew of a woman's dear lip, 

1 MS. : " Sad burden to the ruffian jest, 

And rude oaths vented by the rest." 

2 Bacchanalian interjection, borrowed from the Dutch. 



228 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

Says, that Beelzebub lurks in her kerchief so sly, 
And Apollyon shoots darts from her merry black eye ; 
Yet whoop, Jack ! kiss Gillian the quicker, 
Till she bloom like a rose, and a fig for the vicar ! 

Our vicar thus preaches — and why should he not ? 
For the dues of his cure are the placket and pot ; 
And 'tis right of his office poor laymen to lurch, 
Who infringe the domains of our good Mother Church. 
Yet whoop, bully-boys ! off with your liquor, 
Sweet Marjorie's the word, and a fig for the vicar ! 1 



The warder's challenge, heard without, 
Staid in mid-roar the merry shout. 
A soldier to the portal went, — 
" Here is old Bertram, sirs, of Ghent ; 
And, — beat for jubilee the drum ! — 
A maid and minstrel with him come." 
Bertram, a Fleming, gray and scarr'd, 
Was entering now the Court of Guard, 
A harper with him, and, in plaid 
All muffled close, a mountain maid, 

1 " The greatest blemish in the poem is the ribaldry and 
dull vulgarity which is put into the mouths of the soldiery in 
the guard-room. Mr. Scott has condescended to write a song 
for them, which will be read with pain, we are persuaded, 
even by his warmest admirers ; and his whole genius, and 
even his power of versification, seems to desert him when he 
attempts to repeat their conversation. Here is some of the 
stuff which has dropped, in this inauspicious attempt, from the 
pen of one of the first poets of his age or country," etc., etc. — 
Jeffrey. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 229 

Who backward shrank to 'scape the view 

Of the loose scene and boisterous crew. 

** What news ! " they roar'd : " I only know, 

From noon till eve we fought with foe, 

As wild and as untamable 

As the rude mountains where they dwell ; 

On both sides store of blood is lost, 

Nor much success can either boast. 1 ' — 

" But whence thy captives, friend ? such spoil 

As theirs must needs reward thy toil. 1 

Old dost thou wax, and wars grow sharp ; 

Thou now hast glee-maiden and harp ! 

Get thee an ape, and trudge the land, 

The leader of a juggler band." 2 

1 The MS. reads after this : 

" Get thee an ape, and then at once 

Thou mayst renounce the warder's lance, 

And trudge through borough and through land, 

The leader of a juggler band." 

2 The jongleurs, or jugglers, as we learn from the elaborate 
work of the late Mr. Strutt, on the sports and pastimes of the 
people of England, used to call in the aid of various assistants, 
to render these performances as captivating as possible. The 
glee-maiden was a necessary attendant. Her duty was tum- 
bling and dancing; and therefore the Anglo-Saxon version of 
St. Mark's Gospel states Herodias to have vaulted or tumbled 
before King Herod. In Scotland, these poor creatures seem, 
even at a late period, to have been bondswomen to their 
masters, as appears from a case reported by Fountainhall : 
" Reid the mountebank pursues Scott of Harden and his lady, 
for stealing away from him a little girl, called the tumbling 
lassie, that danced upon his stage ; and he claimed damages, 
and produced a contract, whereby he bought her from her 
mother for ^30 Scots. But we have no slaves in Scotland, 
and mothers cannot sell their bairns ; and physicians attested 



230 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

VII. 
" No, comrade ; — no such fortune mine. 
After the fight these sought our line, 
That aged harper and the girl, 
And, having audience of the Earl, 
Mar bade I should purvey them steed, 
And bring them hitherward with speed. 
Forbear your mirth and rude alarm, 
For none shall do them shame or harm." 
" Hear ye his boast ?" cried John of Brent, 
Ever to strife and jangling bent ; 

the employment of tumbling would kill her ; and her joints 
were now grown stiff, and she declined to return ; though she 
was at least a 'prentice, and so could not run away from her 
master : yet some cited Moses's law, that if a servant shelter 
himself with thee, against his master's cruelty, thou shalt 
surely not deliver him up. The Lords, renitente cancellario, 
assoilzied Harden, on the 27th of January (1687)." — Foun- 
tainhaWs Decisions, vol. i. p. 439.* 

The facetious qualities of the ape soon rendered him an 
acceptable addition to the strolling band of the jongleur. Ben 
Jonson, in his splenetic introduction to the comedy of "Bar- 
tholomew Fair," is at pains to inform the audience " that he 
has ne'er a sword-and-buckler man in his Fair, nor a juggler 
with a well-educated ape to come over the chaine for the 
King of England, and back again for the Prince, and sit still 
on his haunches for the Pope and the King of Spaine." 

* Though less to my purpose, I cannot help noticing a circumstance 
respecting another of this Mr. Reid's attendants, which occurred dur- 
ing James II. 's zeal for Catholic proselytism, and is told by Fountain- 
hall, with dry Scotch irony: " January 17th, 1687. — Reid the 
mountebank is received into the Popish church, and one of his black- 
amores was persuaded to accept of baptism from the Popish priests, 
and to turn Christian papist; which was a great trophy: he was called 
James, after the king and chancellor, and the Apostle James." — Ibid. 
p. 440. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 231 

" Shall he strike doe beside our lodge, 
And yet the jealous niggard grudge 
To pay the forester his fee ? 
1*11 have my share howe'er it be, 
Despite of Moray, Alar, or thee. 11 
Bertram his forward step withstood ; 1 
And, burning in his vengeful mood, 
Old Allan, though unfit for strife, 
Laid hand upon his dagger-knife ; 
But Ellen boldly stepp'd between, 
And dropp'd at once the tartan screen : — 
So from his morning cloud appears 
The sun of May, through summer tears. 
The savage soldiery, amazed, 2 
As on descended angel gazed ; 
Even hardy Brent, abash'd and tamed, 
Stood half admiring, half ashamed. 



VIII. 

Boldly she spoke : " Soldiers, attend ! 
My father was the soldier's friend, 
Cheer'd him in camps, in marches led, 
And with him in the battle bled. 
Not from the valiant, or the strong, 
Should exile's daughter suffer wrong. 111 
Answer'd De Brent, most forward still 
In every feat of good or ill : 



1 MS. : " Bertram j \ violence withstood.' 

- MS. : " While the rude soldiery, amazed." 
:; MS.: " Should Ellen Douglas suffer wrong.' 



232 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

" I shame me of the part I play'd ; 

And thou an outlaw's child, poor maid ! 

An outlaw I by forest laws, 

And merry Needwood knows the cause. 

Poor Rose, — if Rose be living now, 11 — 1 

He wiped his iron eye and brow, — 

" Must bear such age, I think, as thou. — 

Hear ye, my mates ! — I go to call 

The Captain of our watch to hall ; 

There lies my halberd on the floor ; 

And he that steps my halberd o'er, 

To do the maid injurious part, 

My shaft shall quiver in his heart ! 

Beware loose speech, or jesting rough : 

Ye all know John de Brent. Enough.'" 

IX. 

Their Captain came, a gallant young, — 
Of Tullibardine 1 s house he sprung, — 
Nor wore he yet the spurs of knight ; 
Gay was his mien, his humor light, 
And, though by courtesy controll'd, 
Forward his speech, his bearing bold. 
The high-born maiden ill could brook 
The scanning of his curious look 
And dauntless eye : — and yet, in sooth, 
Young Lewis was a generous youth ; 
But Ellen's lovely face and mien, 
111 suited to the garb and scene, 

1 MS. : " ' My Rose,' — he wiped his eye and brow, — 
' Poor Rose, — if Rose be living now.' " 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 233 

Might lightly bear construction strange, 

And give loose fancy scope to range. 

"Welcome to Stirling towers, fair maid ! 

Come ye to seek a champion's aid, 

On palfrey white, with harper hoar, 

Like errant damosel of yore ? 

Does thy high quest a knight require, 

Or may the venture suit a squire ? 11 — 

Her dark eye flash'd ; — she paused and sigh'd : 

"O what have I to do with pride ! — 

— Through scenes of sorrow, shame, and strife, 

A suppliant for a father's life, 

I crave an audience of the King. 

Behold to back my suit, a ring, 

The royal pledge of grateful claims, 

Given by the Monarch to Fitz-James." 1 



The signet-ring young Lewis took, 

With deep respect and alter'd look, 

And said : " This ring our duties own ; 

And pardon, if to worth unknown, 

In semblance mean obscurely veil'd, 

Lady, in aught my folly fail'd. 

Soon as the day flings wide his gates, 

The King shall know what suitor waits. 

Please you, meanwhile, in fitting bower 

Repose you till his waking hour ; 

Female attendants shall obey 

Your hest, for service or array. 

Permit I marshal you the way. 11 

1 MS. : " The Monarch gave to James Fitz-James. 



234 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

But, ere she followed, with the grace 

And open bounty of her race, 

She bade her slender purse be shared 

Among the soldiers of the guard. 

The rest with thanks their guerdon took ; 

But Brent, with shy and awkward look, 

On the reluctant maiden's hold 

Forced bluntly back the profFer'd gold : — 

" Forgive a haughty English heart, 

And O, forget its ruder part ! 

The vacant purse shall be my share, 1 

Which in my barret-cap Til bear, 

Perchance, in jeopardy of war, 

Where gayer crests may keep afar." 

With thanks, — 'twas all she could, — the maid 

His rugged courtesy repaid. 

XI. 

When Ellen forth with Lewis went, 
Allan made suit to John of Brent : 
" My lady safe, O let your grace 
Give me to see my master's face ! 
His minstrel I, — to share his doom 
Bound from the cradle to the tomb. 
Tenth in descent, since first my sires 
Waked for his noble house their lyres, 
Nor one of all the race was known 
But prized its weal above their own. 
With the Chiefs birth begins our care ; 
Our harp must soothe the infant heir, 

1 MS. : " The silken purse shall serve for me, 
And in my barret-cap shall flee." 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 235 

Teach the youth tales of fight, and grace 
His earliest feat of field or chase ; 
In peace, in war, our rank we keep, 
We cheer his board, we soothe his sleep, 
Nor leave him till we pour our verse, — 
A doleful tribute ! — o"er his hearse. 
Then let me share his captive lot ; 
It is my riglit — deny it not ! " — 
" Little we reck," 1 said John of Brent, 
" We Southern men, of long descent ; 
Nor wot we how a name — a word — 
Makes clansmen vassals to a lord : 
Yet kind my noble landlord's part, — 
God bless the house of Beaudesert! 
And, but I loved to drive the deer, 
More than to guide the laboring steer, 
I had not dwelt an outcast here. 
Come, good old Minstrel, follow me ; 
Thy Lord and Chieftain shalt thou see. 1 ' 



XII. 

Then from a rusted iron hook, 
A bunch of ponderous keys he took, 
Lighted a torch, and Allan led 
Through grated arch and passage dread. 
Portals they pass'd, where, deep within, 
Spoke prisoner's moan, and fetters 1 din ; 
Through rugged vaults, 1 where, loosely stored, 
Lay wheel, and axe, and headsman's sword, 

1 MS. : " Low broad vaults!' 



236 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

And many a hideous engine grim, 

For wrenching joint, and crushing 1 limb, 

By artist formed, who deem'd it shame 

And sin to give their work a name. 

They halted at a low-brow'd porch, 

And Brent to Allan gave the torch, 

While bolt and chain he backward roll'd, 

And made the bar unhasp its hold. 

They enteral : 'twas a prison room 

Of stern security and gloom, 

Yet not a dungeon ; for the day 

Through lofty gratings found its way, 

And rude and antique garniture 

Deck'd the sad walls and oaken floor ; 2 

Such as the rugged days of old 

Deem'd fit for captive noble's hold. 

"Here," said De Brent, "thou mayest remain 3 

Till the Leech visit him again. 

Strict is his charge the warders tell, 

To tend the noble prisoner well." 

Retiring then, the bolt he drew, 

And the lock's murmurs growl'd anew, 

Roused at the sound, from lowly bed 

A captive feebly raised his head ; 

The wondering Minstrel look'd, and knew- 

Not his dear lord, but Roderick Dhu ! 



1 MS. 

2 MS. 
s MS. 



" Stretching." 

" Flinty floor." 

" — Thou mayst remain, 
And then, retiring, bolt and chain, 
And rusty bar, he drew again. 
Roused at the sound," etc. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 237 

For, come from where Clan-Alpine fought, 
They, erring, deenvd the Chief he sought. 

XIII. 

As the tall ship, whose lofty prore 

Shall never stem the billows more, 

Deserted by her gallant band, 

Amid the breakers lies astrand, — 

So, on his couch, lay Roderick Dhu ! 

And oft his fever'd limbs he threw 

In toss abrupt, as when her sides 

Lie rocking in the advancing tides, 

That shake her frame with ceaseless beat, 

Yet cannot heave her from her seat ; — 

O ! how unlike her course at sea ! x 

Or his free step on hill and lea ! — 

Soon as the Minstrel he could scan, 

" What of thy lady ? — of my clan ? — 

My mother ? — Douglas ? — tell me all ! 

Have they been ruin'd in my fall ? 

Ah, yes ! or wherefore art thou here ! 

Yet speak, — speak boldly, — do not fear." — 

(For Allan, who his mood well knew, 

Was choked with grief and terror too.) 

" Who fought — who fled ? — Old man, be brief ; — 

Some might — for they had lost their Chief. 

Who basely live? — who bravely died?" — 

"O, calm thee, Chief I 11 — the Minstrel cried, 

" Ellen is safe ; " — " For that thank Heaven ! " — 

" And hopes are for the Douglas given ; — 

1 MS. : " O ! how unlike her course on main ; 
Or his free step on hill and plain ! " 



233 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

The Lady Margaret too is well, 
And, for thy clan, — on field or fell, 
Has never harp of minstrel told, 1 
Of combat fought so true and bold ; 
Thy stately Pine is yet unbent, 
Though many a goodly bough is rent." 

XIV. 

The Chieftain rear'd his form on high, 

And fever's fire was in his eye ; 

But ghastly, pale, and livid streaks 

Checker'd his swarthy brow and cheeks. 

— " Hark, Minstrel ! I have heard thee play, 

With measure bold, on festal day, 

In yon lone isle, . . . again where ne'er 

Shall harper play, or warrior hear ! . . . 

That stirring air that peals on high, 

O'er Dermid's race our victory. — 

Strike it ! 2 — and then, (for well thou canst,) 

Free from thy minstrel-spirit glanced, 

1 MS. : " Shall never harp of minstrel tell, 

Of combat fought so fierce and well." 

2 There are several instances at least in tradition, of persons 
so much attached to particular tunes, as to require to hear 
them on their deathbed. Such an anecdote is mentioned by 
the late Mr. Riddel of Glenriddel, in his collection of Border 
tunes, respecting an air called the " Dandling of the Bairns," 
for which a certain Gallovidian laird is said to have evinced 
this strong mark of partiality. It is popularly told of a famous 
freebooter, that he composed the tune known by the name of 
Macpherson's Rant, while under sentence of death, and played 
it at the gallows-tree. Some spirited words have been adapted 
to it by Burns. A similar story is recounted of a Welsh bard, 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 239 

Fling me the picture of the fight, 

When met my clan the Saxon might. 

I'll listen till my fancy hears 

The clang of swords, the crash of spears ! 

These grates, these walls, shall vanish then, 

For the fair field of fighting men, 



who composed and played on his deathbed the air called 
Dafyddy Garregg Wen. But the most curious example is 
given by Brantome, of a maid of honor at the court of France, 
entitled, Mademoiselle de Limeuil. " Durant sa maladie, dont 
elle trespassa, jamais elle ne cessa, ainsi causa tousjours ; car 
elle estoit, fort grande parleuse, brocardeuse, et tres-bien et 
fort a propos, et tres-belle avec cela. Quand l'heure de sa fin 
fut venue, elle fit venir a soy son valet (ainsi que les filles de la 
cour en ont chacune un), qui s'appelloit Julien, et scavoit 
tres-bien joiier du violon. ' Julien,' luy dit elle, ' prenez vostre 
violon, et sonnez moy tousjours jusques a ce que me voyez 
morte (car je m'y en vais) la Defaite des Suisses, et le mieux 
que vous pourrez, et quand vous serez sur le mot, " Tout est 
perdu," sonnez le par quatre ou cinq fois le plus piteusement 
que vous pourrez,' ce qui fit l'autre, et elle-mesme luy aidoit de 
la voix, et quand ce vint ' tout est perdu,' elle le reitera par 
deux fois ; et se tournant de l'autre coste du chevet, elle dit a 
ses compagnes : ' Tout est perdu a ce coup, et a bon escient ; ' 
et ainsi deceda. Voila une morte joyeuse et plaisante. Je 
tiens ce conte de deux de ses compagnes dignes de foi, qui 
virent joiier ce mystere." — GLuvres de Brantome, iii. 507. 
The tune to which this fair lady chose to make her final 
exit was composed on the defeat of the Swiss at Marignano. 
The burden is quoted by Panurge, in Rabelais, and consists 
of these words, imitating the jargon of the Swiss, which is a 
mixture of French and German — 

" Tout est verlore 
La Tintelore, 
Tout est verlore, bi Got! " 



240 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

And my free spirit burst away. 

As if it soar'd from battle fray. 1 ' 

The trembling Bard with awe obey'd, — 

Slow on the harp his hand he laid ; 

But soon remembrance of the sight 

He witness'd from the mountain's height, 

With what old Bertram told at night, 1 

Awaken'd the full power of song, 

And bore him in career along ; — 

As shallop launch'd on river's tide, 

That slow and fearful leaves the side, 

But when it feels the middle stream, 

Drives downward swift as lightning's beam 



BATTLE OF BEAL' AN DUINE. 2 

" The Minstrel came once more to view 
The eastern ridge of Benvenue, 
For ere he parted he would say 
Farewell to lovely Loch Achray — 

1 The MS. has not this line. 

2 A skirmish actually took place at a pass thus called in the 
Trosachs, and closed with the remarkable incident mentioned 
in the text. It was greatly posterior in date to the reign of 
James V. 

" In this roughly-wooded island * the country people 
secreted their wives and children, and their most valuable 
effects from the rapacity of Cromwell's soldiers, during their 
inroad into this country, in the time of the republic. These 
invaders not venturing to ascend by the ladders, along the 
side of the lake, took a more circuitous road through the 

* That at the eastern extremity of Loch Katrine, so often mentioned 
in the text. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 241 

Where shall he find in foreign land, 
So lone a lake, so sweet a strand ! — 
There is no breeze upon the fern, 

No ripple on the lake, 
Upon her eyry nods the erne, 

The deer has sought the brake ; 

heart of the Trosachs, the most frequented path at that time, 
which penetrates the wilderness about half way between 
Binean and the lake, by a tract called Yea-chilleach, or the 
Old Wife's Bog. 

" In one of the defiles of this by-road, the men of the 
country at that time hung upon the rear of the invading 
enemy, and shot one of Cromwell's men, whose grave marks 
the scene of action, and gives name to that pass* In re- 
venge of this insult, the soldiers resolved to plunder the 
island, to violate the women, and put the children to death. 
With this brutal intention, one of the party, more expert 
than the rest, swam towards the island, to fetch the boat to 
his comrades, which had carried the women to their asylum, 
and lay moored in one of the creeks. His companions 
stood on the shore of the mainland, in full view of all that 
was to pass, waiting anxiously for his return with the boat. 
But just as the swimmer had got to the nearest point of the 
island, and was laying hold of a black rock, to get on shore, 
a heroine, who stood on the very point where he meant to 
land, hastily snatching a dagger from below her apron, with 
one stroke severed his head from the body. His party seeing 
this disaster, and relinquishing all future hope of revenge or 
conquest, made the best of their way out of their perilous 
situation. This amazon's great-grandson lives at the Bridge 
of Turk, who, besides others, attests the anecdote." — Sketch 
of the Scenery near Cullender, Stirling, 1806, p. 20. I have 
only to add to this account, that the heroine's name was Helen 
Stuart. 

* Beallach an duine. 



242 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

The small birds will not sing aloud 

The springing trout lies still, 
So darkly glooms yon thunder-cloud, 
That swathes, as with a purple shroud 

Benledi's distant hill. 
Is it the thunders solemn sound 

That mutters deep and dread, 
Or echoes from the groaning ground 

The warrior's measured tread ? 
Is it the lightning's quivering glance 

That on the thicket streams, 
Or do they flash on spear and lance 

The sun's retiring beams ? — 
I see the dagger-crest of Mar, 
1 see the Moray's silver star, 
Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war, 
That up the lake comes winding far ! 
To hero boune for battle-strife, 

Or bard of martial lay, 
'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life, 

One glance at their array. 



XVI. 

" Their light-arm'd archers far and near 

Survey 'd the tangled ground, 
Their centre ranks, with pike and spear, 

A twilight forest frown'd, 
Their barded horsemen, in the rear, 

The stern battalia crown'd. 
No cymbal clash'd, no clarion rang, 

Still were the pipe and drum ; 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 243 

Save heavy tread, and armor's clang. 

The sullen march was dumb. 
There breathed no wind their crests to shake 

Or wave their flags abroad ; 
Scarce the frail aspen seem'd to quake, 

That shadow'd o'er their road. 
Their vaward scouts no tidings bring, 

Can rouse no lurking foe, 
Nor spy a trace of living thing 

Save when they stirr'd the roe ; 
The host moves, like a deep-sea wave, 
Where rise no rocks its pride to brave, 

High-swelling, dark, and slow. 
The lake is pass'd, and now they gain 
A narrow and a broken plain, 
Before the Trosachs' rugged jaws : 
And here the horse and spearmen pause, 
While, to explore the dangerous glen. 
Dive through the pass the archer-men. 



XVII. 

" At once there rose so wild a yell 
Within that dark and narrow dell, 
As all the fiends, from heaven that fell, 
Had peal'd the banner-cry of hell ! 
Forth from the pass in tumult driven, 
Like chaff before the wind of heaven, 

The archery appear ; 
For life ! for life ! their flight they ply 
And shriek, and shout, and battle-cry, 



244 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

And plaids and bonnets waving high, 
And broadswords flashing to the sky, 

Are maddening in the rear. 
Onward they drive in dreadful race, 

Pursuers and pursued ; 
Before that tide of flight and chase, 
How shall it keep its rooted place, 

The spearmen's twilight wood? — 
' Down, down,' cried Mar, ' your lances down ! 

Bear back both friend and foe ! ' 
Like reeds before the tempests frown, 
That serried grove of lances brown 

At once lay levell'd low ; 
And closely shouldering side to side, 
The bristling ranks the onset bide. — 1 
1 Well quell the savage mountaineer, 

As their Tinchel 2 cows the game ! 
They come as fleet as forest deer, 

We'll drive them back as tame.' 



" Bearing before them, in their course, 
The relics of the archer force, 
Like wave with crest of sparkling foam, 
Right onward did Clan- Alpine come. 

1 The MS. has not this couplet. 

2 A circle of sportsmen, who, by surrounding a great space, 
and gradually narrowing, brought immense quantities of deer 
together, which usually made desperate efforts to break through 
the Tinchel. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 245 

Above the tide each broadsword bright 
Was brandishing like beam of light, 

Each targe was dark below ; 
And with the ocean's mighty swing, 
When heaving to the tempest's wing, 
They hurl'd them on the foe. 
I heard the lance's shivering crash, 
As when the whirlwind rends the ash ; 
I heard the broadsword's deadly clang, 
As if a hundred anvils rang ! 
But Moray wheel'd his rearward rank 
Of horsemen on Clan-Alpine's flank, — 
' My banner-man, advance ! 
I see, 1 he cried, 'their column shake. 
Now, gallants ! for your ladies 1 sake, 

Upon them with the lance ! 1 — 
The horsemen dashed among the rout, 

As deer break through the broom ; 
Their steeds are stout, their swords are out, 

They soon make lightsome room. 
Clan-Alpine's best are backward borne — 

Where, where was Roderick then ! 
One blast upon his bugle-horn 
Were worth a thousand men. 



And refluent through the pass of fear 



The battle's tide was pour'd ; 
Vanish'd the Saxon's struggling spear, 
Vanish'd the mountain-sword. 

1 MS. : " And refluent down the darksome pass 
The battle's tide was pour'd; 
There toil'd the spearman's struggling spear, 
There raged the mountain sword." 



246 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

As Bracklinn's chasm, so black and steep, 

Receives her roaring linn, 
As the dark caverns of the deep 
Suck the wild whirlpool in, 
So did the deep and darksome pass 
Devour the battle's mingled mass : 
None linger now upon the plain, 
Save those who ne'er shall fight again. 

XIX. 

" Now westward rolls the battle's din. 
That deep and doubling pass within. — 
Minstrel, away ! the work of fate 1 
Is bearing on ; its issue wait, 
Where the rude Trosachs' dread defile 
Opens on Katrine's lake and isle. 
Gray Benvenue I soon repass'd, 
Loch Katrine lay beneath me cast. 

The sun is set ; — the clouds are met, 
The lowering scowl of heaven 

An inky hue of vivid blue 
To the deep lake has given ; 
Strange gusts of wind from mountain glen 
Swept o'er the lake, then sunk again. 
I heeded not the eddying surge, 
Mine eye but saw the Trosachs' gorge, 
Mine ear but heard the sullen sound, 
Which like an earthquake shook the ground, 
And spoke the stern and desperate strife 
That parts not but with parting life, 2 

1 MS. : " Away ! away ! the work of fate ! " 

2 — " the loveliness in death 
That parts not quite with parting breath." 

Byron's Giaour. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 247 

Seeming, to minstrel ear, to toll 1 

The dirge of many a passing soul. 
Nearer it comes — the dim-wood glen 
The martial flood disgorged again, 

But not in mingled tide ; 
The plaided warriors of the North 
High on the mountain thunder forth 
And overhang its side, 

While by the lake below appears 

The darkening cloud of Saxon spears. 2 

At weary bay each shatter'd band, 

Eyeing their foemen, sternly stand ; 

Their banners stream like tatter'd sail, 

That flings its fragments to the gale, 

And broken arms and disarray 

Mark'd the fell havoc of the day. 

xx. 

" Viewing the mountain's ridge askance, 
The Saxons stood in sullen trance, 
Till Moray pointed with his lance, 

And cried — < Behold yon isle ! — 
See ! none are left to guard its strand, 
But women weak, that wring the hand ! 
Tis there of yore the robber band 

Their booty wont to pile ; — 
My purse, with bonnet-pieces store, 
To him will swim a bow-shot o'er, 
And loose a shallop from the shore. 

1 MS. : " And seem'd to minstrel ear, to toll 

The parting dirge of many a soul." 

2 MS. : " While by the darken'd lake below, 

File out the spearmen of the foe." 



248 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

Lightly well tame the war-wolf then, 
Lords of his mate, and brood, and den. 1 
Forth from the ranks a spearman sprung, 
On earth his casque and corslet rung, 

He plunged him in the wave : — 
All saw the deed, — the purpose knew, 
And to their clamors Benvenue 

A mingled echo gave ; 
The Saxons shout, their mate to cheer, 
The helpless females scream for fear, 
And yells for rage the mountaineer. 
'Twas then, as by the outcry riven, 
Pour'd down at once the lowering heaven : 
A whirlwind swept Loch Katrine's breast, 
Her billows rear'd their snowy crest. 
Well for the swimmer swell'd they high, 
To mar the Highland marksman's eye ; 
For round him shower'd, 'mid rain and hail 
The vengeful arrows of the Gael. 
In vain. — He nears the isle — and lo ! 
His hand is on a shallop's bow. 
Just then a flash of lightning came, 
It tinged the waves and strand with flame ; 1 
I mark'd Duncraggan's widow'd dame, 
Behind an oak I saw her stand, 
A naked dirk gleam'd in her hand : — 
It darken'd, — but amid the moan 
Of waves I heard a dying groan ; — 



1 MS. reads : " It tinged the boats and lake with flame." 
The eight closing lines of the stanza are interpolated on a slip 
of paper. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 249 

Another flash ! — the spearman floats 
A weltering corse, beside the boats, 
And the stern Matron o'er him stood. 



XXI. 

s!'tl 

The Gaels' exulting shout replied. 
Despite the elemental rage, 
Again they hurried to engage ; 
But, ere they closed in desperate fight, 
Bloody with spurring came a knight, 
Sprung from his horse, and from a crag 
Waved 'twixt the hosts a milk-white flag. 
Clarion and trumpet by his side 
Rung forth a truce-note, high and wide, 
While, in the Monarch's name, afar 
A herald's voice forbade the war, 
For Bothwell's lord, and Roderick bold, 
Were both, he said, in captive hold." — 
But here the lay made sudden stand, 
The harp escaped the Minstrel's hand ! 
Oft had he stolen a glance, to spy 
How Roderick brook'd his minstrelsy : 
At first, the Chieftain, to the chime, 
With lifted hand kept feeble time ; 
That motion ceased, — yet feeling strong 
Varied his look as changed the sound ; 1 
At length, no more his deafen'd ear 
The minstrel melody can hear ; 

1 MS. : " Glowed in his look, as swell'd the song. 1 



250 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

His face grows sharp, — his hands are clench'd, 

As if some pang his heartstrings wrench'd ; 

Set are his teeth, his fading eye 1 

Is sternly fixed on vacancy ; 

Thus, motionless, and moanless, drew 

His parting breath, stout Roderick Dhu ! — 2 

Old Allan-Bane look'd on aghast, 

While grim and still his spirit pass'd ; 

But when he saw that life was fled, 

He pour'd his wailing o'er the dead. 

XXII. 
LAMENT. 

" And art thou cold and lowly laid, 3 
Thy foeman's dread, thy people's aid, 
Breadalbane's boast, Clan-Alpine's shade ! 

1MS , — hisjt^eye, 

2 " Rob Roy, while on his deathbed, learned that a person, 
with whom he was at enmity, proposed to visit him. ' Raise 
me from my bed,' said the invalid; 'throw my plaid around 
me, and bring me my claymore, dirk and pistols — it shall 
never be said that a foeman saw Rob Roy Macgregor de- 
fenceless and unarmed.' His foeman, conjectured to be one 
of the MacLarens before and after mentioned, entered and 
paid his compliments, inquiring after the health of his formid- 
able neighbor. Rob Roy maintained a cold, haughty civility 
during their short conference ; and so soon as he had left the 
house, ' Now,' he said, ' all is over — let the piper play, Ha til 
mi tulidh ' [we return no more] ; and he is said to have ex- 
pired before the dirge was finished." — Introduction to Rob 
Roy, Waver ley Novels, vol. vii. p. 85. 

3 MS. : " ' And art thou gone,' the Minstrel said." 



caxto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 251 

For thee shall none a requiem say? 
For thee, who loved the minstrel's lay, 
For thee, of Bothwell's house the stay, 
The shelter of her exiled line, 1 
E'en in this prison-house of thine, 
I'll wail for Alpine's honor'd Pine. 

"What groans shall yonder valleys fill ! 
What shrieks of grief shall rend yon hill ! 
W hat tears of burning rage shall thrill, 
When mourns thy tribe thy battles done, 
Thy fall before the race was won, 
Thy sword ungirt ere set of sun ! 
There breathes not clansman of thy line, 
But would have given his life for thine. ' 
O, woe for Alpine's honor'd Pine ! 

" Sad was thy lot on mortal stage ! — 
The captive thrush may brook the cage, 
The prison'd eagle dies for rage. 
Brave spirit, do not scorn my strain ! 
And, when its notes awake again, 
Even she, so long beloved in vain, 
Shall with my harp her voice combine, 
And mix her woe and tears with mine, 
To wail Clan-Alpine's honor'd Pine." 



XXIII. 

Ellen, the while, with bursting heart, 
Remain'd in lordly bower apart, 

1 MS. : "The mightiest of a mighty line.' 



252 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

Where play'd, with many-color'd gleams, 

Through storied pane the rising beams. 

In vain on gilded roof they fall, 

And lighten'd up a tapestried wall, 

And for her use a menial train 

A rich collation spread in vain. 

The banquet proud, the chamber gay, 1 

Scarce drew one curious glance astray ; 

Or if she look'd., 'twas but to say, 

With better omen dawn'd the day 

In that lone isle, where waved on high 

The dun-deer's hide for canopy ; 

Where oft her noble father shared 

The simple meal her care prepared, 

While Lufra, crouching by her side, 

Her station claim'd with jealous pride, 

And Douglas, bent on woodland game, 2 

Spoke of the chase to Malcolm Graeme, 

Whose answer oft at random made, 

The wandering of his thoughts betrayed. 

Those who such simple joys have known, 

Are taught to prize them when they're gone. 

But sudden, see, she lifts her head, 

The window seeks with cautious tread. 

What distant music has the power 

To win her in this woful hour ! 

'Twas from a turret that o'erhung 

Her latticed bower, the strain was sung. 



1 MS. : " The banquet gay, the chamber's pride, 

Scarce drew one curious glance aside." 

2 MS. : " Earnest on his game." 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 253 

XXIV. 
LAY OF THE IMPRISONED HUNTSMAN. 

" My hawk is tired of perch and hood, 
My idle greyhound loathes his food, 
My horse is weary of his stall. 
And I am sick of captive thrall. 
I wish I were as I have been, 
Hunting the hart in forest green, 
With bended bow and bloodhound free, 
For that's the life is meet for me. 1 

(i I hate to learn the ebb of time, 
From yon dull 2 steeple's drowsy chime, 
Or mark it as the sunbeams crawl, 
Inch after inch, along the wall. 
The lark was wont my matins ring, 3 
The sable rook my vespers sing ; 
These towers, although a king's they be, 
Have not a hall of joy for me. 4 

" No more at dawning morn I rise, 
And sun myself in Ellen's eyes, 
Drive the fleet deer the forest through, 
And homeward wend with evening dew ; 
A blithesome welcome blithely meet, 
And lay my trophies at her feet 

1 MS. : " was meant for me." 

2 MS. : " From darken'd steeple's." 

3 MS. : " The lively lark my matins rung, 

The sable rook my vespers sung." 

4 MS. : " Have not a hall should harbor me." 



254 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

While fled the eve on wing of glee, — 
That life is lost to love and me ! " 



XXV. 

That heart-sick lay was hardly said, 
The list'ner had not turn'd her head, 
It trickled still, the starting tear, 
When light a footstep struck her ear, 
And Snowdoun's graceful knight was near. 
She turn'd the hastier, lest again 
The prisoner should renew his strain. 
" O welcome, brave Fitz-James ! " she said, 
" How may an almost orphan maid 

Pay the deep debt ■ " " O say not so ! 

To me no gratitude yoii owe, 
Not mine, alas ! the boon to give, 
And bid thy noble father live ; 
I can but be thy guide, sweet maid, 
With Scotland's King thy suit to aid. 
No tyrant he, though ire and pride 
May lay his better mood aside. 
Come, Ellen, come ! 'tis more than time, 
He holds his court at morning prime." 
With beating heart, and bosom wrung, 
As to a brother's arm she clung. 
Gently he dried the falling tear, 
And gently whisper'd hope and cheer ; 
Her faltering steps half led, half stay'd, 
Through gallery fair and high arcade, 
Till at his touch its wings of pride 
A portal arch unfolded wide. 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 255 

XXVI. 

Within 'twas brilliant all and light, 1 

A thronging scene of figures bright ; 

It glow'd on Ellen's dazzled sight, 

As when the setting sun has given 

Ten thousand hues to summer even, 

And from their tissue, fancy frames 

Aerial knights and fairy dames. 

Still by Fitz-James her footing staid ; 

A few faint steps she forward made, 

Then slow her drooping head she raised, 

And fearful round the presence gazed \ 

For him she sought, who own'd this state, 2 

The dreaded prince whose will was fate ! — 

She gazed on many a princely port, 

Might well have ruled a royal court ; 

On many a splendid garb she gazed, — 

Then turn'd bewilder'd and amazed, 

For all stood bare ; and in the room 

Fitz-James alone wore cap and plume. 

To him each lady's look was lent, 

On him each courtier's eye was bent ; 

Midst furs and silks and jewels sheen, 

He stood, in simple Lincoln green, 

The centre of the glittering ring, — 

And Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King ! 3 



1 MS. : " Within 'twas brilliant all, and bright 

The vision glow'd on Ellen's sight." 

2 MS.: " For him who own'd this royal state." 

3 See Appendix, Note Q. 



256 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

xxvii. 

As wreath of snow on mountain-breast 

Slides from the rock that gave it rest, 

Poor Ellen glided from her stay, 1 

And at the Monarch's feet she lay ; 

No word her choking voice commands, — 

She show'd the ring, — she clasp'd her hands. 

! not a moment could he brook, 

The generous Prince, that suppliant look ! 

Gently he raised her, — and, the while, 

Check'd with a glance the circle's smile ; 

Graceful, but grave, her brow he kiss'd, 

And bade her terrors be dismiss'd : — 

" Yes, fair ; the wandering poor Fitz-James 

The fealty of Scotland claims. 

To him thy woes, thy wishes, bring ; 

He will redeem his signet-ring. 

Ask naught for Douglas ; — yester even, 

His prince and he have much forgiven : 

Wrong hath he had from slanderous tongue, 

I, from his rebel kinsmen wrong. 

We would not to the vulgar crowd 

Yield what they craved with clamor loud ; 

Calmly we heard and judged his cause, 

Our council aided and our laws. 

1 stanch'd thy father's death-feud stern 
With stout De Vaux and gray Glencairn ; 
And Bothwell's Lord henceforth we own 
The friend and bulwark of our Throne. — 

1 MS. : — " shrinking quits her stay." 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 257 

But, lovely infidel, how now ? 
What clouds thy misbelieving brow ? 
Lord James of Douglas, lend thine aid ; 
Thou must confirm this doubting maid." 



XXVIII. 

1 0"1 n o fnvii*.. r 



Then forth the noble Douglas sprung, 

And on his neck his daughter hung. 

The monarch drank, that happy hour, 

The sweetest, holiest draught of Power, — 

When it can say, with godlike voice, 

Arise,'sad Virtue, and rejoice ! 

Yet would not James the general eye 

On Nature's raptures long should pry ; 

He stepp'd between — " Nay, Douglas, nay, 

Steal not my proselyte away ! 

The riddle 'tis my right to read, 

That brought this happy chance to speed. 

Yes, Ellen, when, disguised, I stray 

In life's more low but happier way, 1 

'Tis under name which veils my power, 

Nor falsely veils — for Stirling's tower 

Of yore the name of Snowdoun claims, 2 

And Normans call me James Fitz-James. 

Thus watch I o'er insulted laws, 

Thus learn to right the injured cause." 

Then, in a tone apart and low, — 

" Ah, little traitress ! none must know 

1 MS. : " In lowly life's more happy way." 

2 William of Worcester, who wrote about the middle of the 
fifteenth century, calls Stirling Castle Snowdoun. Sir David 



258 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

What idle dream, what lighter thought, 

What vanity full dearly bought, 

Join'd to thine eye's dark witchcraft, drew 

My spell-bound steps to Benvenue 1 

In dangerous hour, and almost gave 

Thy Monarch's life to mountain glaive ! " — 

Aloud he spoke : " Thou still dost hold 

That little talisman of gold, 

Lindsay bestows the same epithet upon it in his complaint of 
the Papingo : 

" Adieu, fair Snawdoun, with thy towers high, 
Thy chapele-royal, park, and table round; 
May, June, and July, would I dwell in thee, 
Were I a man, to hear the birdis sound 
Whilk doth againe thy royal rock rebound." 

Mr. Chalmers, in his late excellent edition of Sir David 
Lindsay's works, has refuted the chimerical derivation of 
Snawdoun from snedding, or cutting. It was probably de- 
rived from the romantic legend which connected Stirling with 
King Arthur, to which the mention of the Round Table gives 
countenance. The ring within which jousts were formerly 
practised, in the castle park, is still called the Round Table. 
Snawdoun is the official title of one of the Scottish heralds, 
whose epithets seem in all countries to have been fantastic- 
ally adopted from ancient history or romance. 

It appears (see Appendix, Note Q) that the real name by 
which James was actually distinguished in his private excur- 
sions, was the Goodman of Ballenguich : derived from a steep 
pass leading up to the Castle of Stirling, so called. But the 
epithet would not have suited poetry, and would besides at 
once and prematurely, have announced the plot to many of 
my countrymen, among whom the traditional stories above 
mentioned are still current. 

1 MS. : " Thv sovereign back ) _. „ 

' ; , ko Benvenue. 

Thy sovereign s steps } 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 259 



Pledge of my faith, Fitz-James's rin 
What seeks fair Ellen of the king \ 



&> 

?" 



XXIX. 

Full well the conscious maiden guess'd 

He probed the weakness of her breast ; 

But, with that consciousness, there came 

A lightening of her fears for Graeme, 

And 2 more she deem'd the monarch's ire 

Kindled 'gainst him, who, for her sire 

Rebellious broadsword boldly drew ; 

And, to her generous feeling true, 

She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu. — 

" Forbear thy suit : — the King of kings 

Alone can stay life's parting wings. 

I know his heart, I know his hand, 

Have shared his cheer and proved his brand ; 

My fairest earldom would I give 

To bid Clan-Alpine's Chieftain live ! — 

Hast thou no other boon to crave ? 

No other captive friend to save ? " 

Blushing, she turn'd her from the King, 

And to the Douglas gave the ring, 

As if she wish'd her sire to speak 

The suit that stain'd her glowing cheek. 

1 MS. : " Pledge of Fitz-James's faith, the ring." 

2 MS. : " And in her breast strove maiden shame ; 

More deep she deem'd the Monarch's ire 
Kindled 'gainst him, who, for her sire, 
Against his sovereign broadsword drew; 
And, with a pleading, warm and true, 
She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu." 



260 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vi. 

" Nay, then, my pledge has lost its force, 
And stubborn justice holds her course. 
Malcolm, come forth ! " — and, at the word, 
Down kneel'd the Graeme 1 to Scotland's Lord. 
" For thee, rash youth, no suppliant sues, 
From thee may Vengeance claim her dues. 
Who, nurtured underneath our smile, 
Hast paid our care by treacherous wile, 
And sought, amid thy faithful clan, 
A refuge for an cmtlaw'd man. 
Dishonoring thus thy loyal name. — 
Fetters and warder for the Graeme ! " 
His chain of gold the King unstrung, 
The links o'er Malcolm's neck he flung, 
Then gently drew the glittering band, 
And laid the clasp on Ellen's hand. 2 

1 " Malcolm Grseme has too insignificant a part assigned 
him, considering the favor in which he is held both by Ellen 
and the author ; and in bringing out the shaded and imperfect 
character of Roderick Dhu, as a contrast to the purer virtue 
of his rival, Mr. Scott seems to have fallen into the common 
error of making him more interesting than him whose virtues 
he was intended to set off, and converted the villain of the 
piece in some measure into its hero. A modern poet, how- 
ever, may perhaps be pardoned for an error, of which Milton 
himself is thought not to have kept clear, and for which there 
seems so natural a cause in the difference between poetical 
and amiable characters." — Jeffrey. 

2 . . . " And now, waiving myself, let me talk to you of the 
Prince Regent. He ordered me to be presented to him at a 
ball; and after some sayings peculiarly pleasing from royal 
lips, as to my own attempts, he talked to me of you and your 
immortalities ; he preferred you to every bard past and pres- 
ent, and asked which of your works pleased me most. It was 



canto vi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 261 

Harp of the North, farewell ! The hills grow dark, 

On purple peaks a deeper shade descending ; 
In twilight copse the glow-worm lights her spark, 

The deer, half-seen, are to the covert wending. 
Resume thy wizard elm ! the fountain lending, 

And the wild breeze, thy wilder minstrelsy ; 
Thy numbers sweet with nature's vespers blending, 

With distant echo from the fold and lea, 
And herd-boy's evening pipe, and hum of housing bee. 

Yet, once again, farewell, thou Minstrel Harp ! 

Yet, once again, forgive my feeble sway, 
And little reck I of the censure sharp 

May idly cavil at an idle lay. 
Much have I owed thy strains on life's long way, 

Through secret woes the world has never known, 
When on the weary night dawn'd wearier day, 

And bitterer was the grief devour d alone. — 
That I o'erlive such woes, Enchantress! is thine own. 



Hark ! as my lingering footsteps slow retire, 
Some Spirit of the Air has waked thy string ! 

'Tis now a seraph bold, with touch of fire, 
'Tis now the brush of Fairy's frolic wing. 

a difficult question. I answered, I thought the ' Lay.' He 
said his own opinion was nearly similar. In speaking of the 
others, I told him that I thought you more particularly the poet 
of Princes, as they never appeared more fascinating than in 
' Marmion,' and the ' Lady of the Lake.' He was pleased to 
coincide, and to dwell on the description of your James's as 
no less royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of Homer 
and yourself, and seemed well acquainted with both," &c. — 
Letter fro??i Lord Byron to Sir Walter Scott, July 6, 1812. 
Byron's Life and Works, vol. ii., p. 156. 



262 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [canto vr. 

Receding now, the dying numbers ring 
Fainter and fainter down the rugged dell, 

And now the mountain breezes scarcely bring 
A wandering witch-note of the distant spell — 

And now, 

well ! 1 



1 On a comparison of the merits of this poem with the two 
former productions of the same unquestioned genius, we are 
inclined to bestow on it a very decided preference over both. 
It would perhaps be difficult to select any one passage of such 
genuine inspiration, as one or two that might be pointed out 
in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, — and, perhaps, in strength 
and discrimination of character, it may fall short of Marmion ; 
although we are loath to resign either the rude and savage 
generosity of Roderick, the romantic chivalry of James, or the 
playful simplicity, the affectionate tenderness, the modest 
courage of Helen Douglas, to the claims of any competitors 
in the last-mentioned poem. But, for interest and artificial 
management in the story, for general ease and grace of versi- 
fication, and correctness of language, the Lady of the Lake 
must be universally allowed, we think, to excel, and very far 
excel, either of her predecessors. — Critical Review. 

" There is nothing in Mr. Scott of the severe and majestic 
style of Milton, or of the terse and fine composition of Pope, 
or of the elaborate elegance and melody of Campbell, or 
even of the flowing and redundant diction of Southey ; but 
there is a medley of bright images and glowing, set carelessly 
and loosely together, — a diction tinged successively with the 
careless richness of Shakspeare, the harshness and antique 
simplicity of the old romances, the homeliness of vulgar bal- 
lads and anecdotes, and the sentimental glitter of the most 
modern poetry; passing from the borders of the ludicrous to 
those of the sublime; alternately minute and energetic; 
sometimes artificial, and frequently negligent, but always full 
of spirit and vivacity ; abounding in images that are striking 



canto yi.] THE GUARD-ROOM. 263 

at first sight to minds of every contexture, and never express- 
ing a sentiment which it can cost the most ordinary reader 
any exertion to comprehend. Upon the whole, we are inclined 
to think more highly of the " Lady of the Lake " than of either of 
its author's former publications. We are more sure, however, 
that it has fewer faults than that it has greater beauties ; and 
as its beauties bear a strong resemblance to those with which 
the public has been already made familiar in these celebrated 
works, we should not be surprised if its popularity were less 
splendid and remarkable. For our own part, however, we are 
of opinion, that it will be oftener read hereafter than either of 
them, and that if it had appeared first in the series, their re- 
ception would have been less favorable than that which it has 
experienced. It is more polished in its diction, and more 
regular in its versification ; the story is constructed with infi- 
nitely more skill and address ; there is a greater proportion of 
pleasing and tender passages, with much less antiquarian de- 
tail, and, upon the whole, a larger variety of characters, more 
artfully and judiciously contrasted. There is nothing so fine, 
perhaps, as the battle in " Marmion," or so picturesque as some 
of the scattered sketches in the " Lay " ; but there is a richness 
and a spirit in the whole piece which does not pervade either 
of these poems, a profusion of incident and a shifting bril- 
liancy of coloring, that reminds us of the witchery of Ariosto, 
and a constant elasticity, and occasional energy, which seems 
to belong more peculiarly to the author now before us." — 
Jeffrey. 



APPENDIX 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



APPENDIX. 



Note A. 



A gray-hair' d sire, whose eye intent 
Was on the vision d future bent. — P. 45. 

If force of evidence could authorize us to believe 
facts inconsistent with the general laws of nature, 
enough might be produced in favor of the existence 
of the Second-sight. It is called in Gaelic Taishita- 
raugh, from Tats A, an unreal or shadowy appear- 
ance ; and those possessed of the faculty are called 
Taishatrin, which may be aptly translated vision- 
aries. Martin, a steady believer in the second-sight, 
gives the following account of it : — 

** The second-sight is a singular faculty, of seeing 
an otherwise invisible object, without any previous 
means used by the person that used it for that end ; 
the vision makes such a lively impression upon the 
seers, that they neither see, nor think of anything 
else, except the vision, as long as it continues ; and 
then they appear pensive or jovial, according to the 
object that was represented to them. 

"At the sight of a vision, the eyelids of the per- 
son are erected, and the eyes continue staring until 

267 



268 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

the object vanish. This is obvious to others who 
are by when the persons happen to see a vision, and 
occurred more than once to my own observation, and 
to others that were with me. 

" There is one in Skie, of whom his acquaintance 
observed, that when he sees a vision, the inner part 
of his eyelids turns so far upwards, that, after the 
object disappears, he must draw them down with 
his fingers, and sometimes employ others to draw 
them down, which he finds to be the much easier 
way. 

" This faculty of the second-sight does not lineally 
descend in a family, as some imagine, for I know 
several parents who are endowed with it, but their 
children not, and vice versa ; neither is it acquired 
by any previous compact. And, after a strict in- 
quiry, I could never learn that this faculty was com- 
municable any way whatsoever. 

"The seer knows neither the object, time, nor 
place of a vision before it appears ; and the same 
object is often seen by different persons living at a 
considerable distance from one another. The tine 
way of judging as to the time and circumstance of 
an object, is by observation ; for several persons of 
judgment, without this faculty, are more capable to 
judge of the design of a vision, than a novice that 
is a seer. If an object appear in the day or night, 
it will come to pass sooner or later accordingly. 

" If an object is seen early in the morning (which 
is not frequent), it will be accomplished in a few 
hours afterwards. If at noon, it will commonly be 
accomplished that very day. If in the evening, per- 



APPENDIX. 269 

haps that night ; if after candles be lighted, it will 
be accomplished that night ; the latter always in 
accomplishment, by weeks, months, and sometimes 
years, according to the time of night the vision is 
seen. 

" When a shroud is perceived about one, it is a 
sure prognostic of death : the time is judged accord- 
ing to the height of it about the person : for if it is 
seen above the middle, death is not to be expected 
for the space of a year, and perhaps some months 
longer ; and as it is frequently seen to ascend higher 
towards the head, death is concluded to be at hand, 
within a few days, if not hours, as daily experience 
confirms. Examples of this kind were shown me, 
when the persons of whom the observations were 
then made enjoyed perfect health. 

"One instance was lately foretold by a seer, that 
was a novice, concerning the death of one of my 
acquaintance ; this was communicated to a few only, 
and with great confidence : I being one of the num- 
ber, did not in the least regard it, until the death of 
the person, about the time foretold, did confirm me 
of the certainty of the prediction. The novice men- 
tioned above, is now a skilful seer, as appears from 
many late instances ; he lives in the parish of St. 
Mary's, the most northern in Skie. 

" If a woman is seen standing at a man's left hand, 
it is a presage that she will be his wife, whether they 
be married to others, or unmarried at the time of the 
apparition. 

" If two or three women are seen at once near a 
man's left hand, she that is next him will undoubtedly 



270 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

be his wife first, and so on, whether all three, or e 
man, be single or married at the time of the vision or 
not ; of which there are several late instances among 
those of my acquaintance. It is an ordinary thing 
for them to see a man that is to come to the house 
shortly after ; and if he is not of the seer's acquaint- 
ance, yet he gives such a lively description of his 
stature, complexion, habit, etc., that upon his arrival 
he answers the character given him in all respects. 

" If the person so appearing be one of the seer's 
acquaintance, he will tell his name, as well as other 
particulars ; and he can tell by his countenance 
whether he comes in a good or bad humor. 

" I have been seen thus myself by seers of both 
sexes, at some hundred miles' distance ; some that 
saw me in this manner had never seen me personally, 
and it happened according to their vision, without 
any previous design of mine to go to these places, 
my coming there being purely accidental. 

" It is ordinary with them to see houses, gardens, 
and trees in places void of all three ; and this in 
progress of time uses to be accomplished : as at Mag- 
shot, in the Isle of Skie, where there were but a few 
sorry cowhouses, thatched with straw, yet in a very 
few years after, the vision, which appeared often, was 
accomplished, by the building of several good houses 
on the very spot represented by the seers, and by the 
planting of orchards there. 

" To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm or 
breast, is a forerunner of a dead child to be seen in 
the arms of those persons, of which there are several 
fresh instances. 



APPENDIX. 2 7 1 

" To see a seat empty at the time of one's sitting 
in it, is a presage of that person's death soon after. 

" When a novice, or one that has lately obtained 
the second-sight, sees a vision in the night-time with- 
out doors, and he be near a fire, he presently falls 
into a swoon. 

" Some find themselves as it were in a crowd of 
people, having a corpse which they carry along with 
them ; and after such visions the seers come in sweat- 
ing, and describe the people that appeared ; if there 
be any of their acquaintance among 'em, they give an 
account of their names, as also of the bearers, but 
they know nothing concerning the corpse. 

"All those who have the second-sight do not always 
see these visions at once, though they be together at 
the time. But if one who has this faculty, designedly 
touch his fellow-seer at the instant of a vision's ap- 
pearing, then the second sees it as well as the first ; 
and this is sometimes discerned by those that are 
near them on such occasions." — Martin's Descrip- 
tion of the Western Islands, 1716, 8vo, p. 300, et 
seq. 

To these particulars innumerable examples might 
be added, all attested by grave and credible authors. 
But, in spite of evidence which neither Bacon, Boyle, 
nor Johnson were able to resist, the Taisch, with all 
its visionary properties, seems to be now universally 
abandoned to the use of poetry. The exquisitely 
beautiful poem of Lochiel will at once recur to the 
recollection of every reader. 



272 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Note B. 

My sires tall form might grace the part 
Of Ferragus or As cab art. — P. 50. 

These two sons of Anak flourished in romantic 
fable. The first is well known to the admirers of 
Ariosto, by the name of Ferrau. He was an antag- 
onist of Orlando, and was at length slain by him in 
single combat. There is a romance in the Auchin- 
leck MS., in which Ferragus is thus described : — 

" On a day come tiding 
Unto Charls the King, 

Al of a doughti knight 
Was comen to Navers. 
Stout he was and fers, 

Vernagu he hight 
Of babiloun the soudan 
Thider him sende gan, 

With King Charls to fight. 
So hardhe was to-fond 1 
That no dint of brond 

No greud him, aplight. 
He hadde twenti men strengthe 
And forti fet of lengthe, 
Thilke painim hede, 2 
And four feet in the face, 
Y-meten 3 in the place, 

And fifteen in brede. 4 
His nose was a fot and more ; 
His brow, as bristles wore; 5 

He that it seighe it sede. 
He looked lotheliche, 

1 Found, proved. 2 Had. 3 Measured. 4 Breadth. 5 Were. 



APPENDIX. 273 

And was swart 1 as any piche, 
Of him men might adrede." 

Ro?nance of Charlemagne, 1. 461-484, 
Auchinleck MS., fol. 265. 

Ascapart or Ascabart makes a very material figure 
in the History of Bevis of Hampton, by whom he was 
conquered. His effigies may be seen guarding one 
side of a gate at Southampton, while the other is 
occupied by Sir Bevis himself. The dimensions of 
Ascabart were little inferior to those of Ferragus, if 
the following description be correct : — 

" They metten with a geaunt, 
With a lothelithe semblaunt. 
He was wonderliche strong, 
Rome- thretti fote long 
His berd was hot gret and rowe ; 3 
A space of a fot between is 4 browe ; 
His clob was, to yeue 5 a strok, 
A lite bodi of an oak. 8 

" Beues hadde of him wonder gret, 
And askede him what a het, 7 
And yaf s men of his contre 
Were ase meche ase 9 was he 
' Me name,' a sede, 10 ' is Ascopard, 
Graci me sent hiderward, 
For to bring this quene ayen 
And the Beues her of-slen. 11 
Icham Graci is 12 champioun, 
And was i-driue out of me 13 toun 
Al for that ich was so lite. 14 

1 Black. 2 Fully. 3 Rough. 4 His. 5 Give. 6 The stem 
of a little oak-tree. 7 He hight, was called. 8 If. 9 Great. 
10 He said. H Slay. 12 His. is My. M Little. 



2 74 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Eueri man me wolde smite, 
Ich was so lite and so merugh ;! 
Eueri man me clepede dwerugh, 2 
And now icham in this londe, 
I wax mor 3 ich understonde, 
And stranger than other tene ; 4 
And that schel on us be sene.' " 

Sir Bevis of Hampton , I. 2512. 
Auchinleck MS., fol. 189. 

Note C. 

In Holy-Rood a Knight he slew. — P. 66. 

This was by no means an uncommon occurrence 
in the court of Scotland ; nay, the presence of the 
sovereign himself scarcely restrained the ferocious 
and inveterate feuds which were the perpetual source 
of bloodshed among the Scottish nobility. The fol- 
lowing instance of the murder of Sir William Stuart 
of Ochiltree, called The Bloody, by the celebrated 
Francis, Earl of Bothwell, may be produced among 
many ; but, as the offence given in the royal court 
will hardly bear a vernacular translation, I shall leave 
the story in Johnstone's Latin, referring for farther 
particulars to the naked simplicity of BirrelPs Diary, 
30th July, 1588. 

"Mors im fir obi hominis non ta?7i ifisa im merit a, 
quam pessimo exemfilo in publicum, f cede perpetrata. 
Gulielmus Stuartus Alkiltrius, Aranifrater, naturd 
ac moribus, c?tjus scepius memini, vidgo propter sitem 
sanguinis sanguinarius dictus, a Bothvelio, in Sanctce 
Crucis Regid exardescejite ird, ?nendacii probro laces- 

1 Lean. 2 Dwarf. 3 Greater, taller. 4 Ten. 



APPENDIX. 275 

situs, obscamuni osculum liberius retorquebat ; Both- 
velins hanc contumeliam tacitus tulit, sed ingtntum 
irarum molem animo concepit. Utrinque postridie 
Edinburgi conventum, totidem numero comitibus ar- 
matis prcesidii causa, et acriter pugnatum est ; ceteris 
amicis et clientibus metu torpentibus, aut vi abster- 
ritus, ipse Stuart us fortissime dimicat ; tandem 
cxcusso gladio a Bothvelio, Scythica feritate tra7isfo- 
ditur, sine cujusquam misericordia ; habuit itaque 
quern debuit exitum. Digitus erat Stuartus qui 
pateretur ; Bothvelius qui faceret. Vulgus san- 
guinem sanguine pr&dicabit, et horum cruore inno- 
cuorum manibus egregie parentatum." — Johnstoni 
Historia Rerum Britannicarum, ab anno 1572 ad 
annum 1628. Amstelodami, 1655, fol. p. 135. 

Note D. 

Did, self-unscabbarded, foreshow 
The footstep of a secret foe. — P. 71. 

The ancient warriors, whose hope and confidence 
rested chiefly in their blades, were accustomed to 
deduce omens from them, especially from such as 
were supposed to have been fabricated by enchanted 
skill, of which we have various instances in the 
romances and legends of the time. The wonderful 
sword Skofnung, wielded by the celebrated Hrolf 
Kraka, was of this description. It was deposited in 
the tomb of the monarch at his death, and taken 
from thence by Skeggo, a celebrated pirate, who 
bestowed it upon his son-in-law, Kormak, with the 
following curious directions: — "'The manner of 



276 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

using it will appear strange to you. A small bag is 
attached to it, which take heed not to violate. Let 
not the rays of the sun touch the upper part of the 
handle, nor unsheathe it, unless thou art ready for 
battle. But when thou comest to the place of fight, 
go aside from the rest, grasp and extend the sword, 
and breathe upon it. Then a small worm will creeP 
out of the handle, that he may more easily return into 
it. 1 Kormak, after having received the sword, re- 
turned home to his mother. He showed the sword, 
and attempted to draw it, as unnecessarily as ineffec- 
tually, for he could not pluck it out of the sheath. 
His mother, Dalla, exclaimed, ' Do not despise the 
counsel given to thee, my son. 1 Kormak, however, 
repeating his efforts, pressed down the handle with his 
feet, and tore off the bag, when Skofnung emitted a 
hollow groan ; but still he could not unsheathe the 
sword. Kormak then went out with Bessus, whom 
he had challenged to fight with him, and drew apart 
at the place of combat. He sat down upon the 
ground, and ungirding the sword, which he bore 
above his vestments, did not remember to shield the 
hilt from the rays of the sun. In vain he endeavored 
to draw it, till he placed his foot against the hilt ; then 
the worm issued from it. But Kormak did not 
rightly handle the weapon, in consequence whereof 
good fortune deserted it. As he unsheathed Skonfung, 
it emitted a hollow murmur. 11 — Bartholini de Causis 
Contemptce a Danis adhuc Gentilibus Mortis, Libri 
Tres. Hafnice, 1689, 4to, p. 574. 

To the history of this sentient and prescient weapon, 
I beg leave to add, from memory, the following leg- 



APPENDIX. 277 

end, for which I cannot produce any better authority. 
A young nobleman, of high hopes and fortune, 
chanced to lose his way in the town which he inhab- 
ited, the capital, if I mistake not, of a German prov- 
ince. He had accidentally involved himself among 
the narrow and winding streets of a suburb, inhabited 
by the lowest order of the people, and an approach- 
ing thunder-shower determined him to ask a short 
refuge in the most decent habitation that was near 
him. He knocked at the door, which was opened by 
a tall man, of a grisly and ferocious aspect, and sor- 
did dress. The stranger was readily ushered to a 
chamber, where swords, scourges, and machines, 
which seemed to be implements of torture, were sus- 
pended on the wall. One of these swords dropped 
from its scabbard as the nobleman, after a moment's 
hesitation, crossed the threshold. His host immedi- 
ately stared at him with such a marked expression, 
that the young man could not help demanding his 
name and business, and the meaning of his looking 
at him so fixedly. " I am," answered the man, " the 
public executioner of this city ; and the incident you 
have observed is a sure augury that I shall, in dis- 
charge of my duty, one day cut off your head with 
the weapon which has just now spontaneously un- 
sheathed itself/' The nobleman lost no time in 
leaving his place of refuge ; but, engaging in some of 
the plots of the period, was shortly after decapitated 
by that very man and instrument. 

Lord Lovat is said, by the author of the " Letters 
from Scotland," to have affirmed, that a number of 
swords that hung up in the hall of the mansion-house 



278 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

leaped of themselves out of the scabbard at the instant 
he was born. The story passed current among his 
clan, but, like that of the story I have just quoted, 
proved an unfortunate omen. — Letters from Scot- 
land, vol. ii. p. 214. 

Note E. 

The best of Loch Lomond lie dead on her side. — P. 76. 

The Lennox, as the district is called, which encir- 
cles the lower extremity of Loch Lomond, was pecul- 
iarly exposed to the incursions of the mountaineers, 
who inhabited the inaccessible fastnesses at the upper 
end of the lake, and the neighboring district of 
Loch Katrine. These were often marked by circum- 
stances of great ferocity, of which the noted conflict 
of Glen-fruin is a celebrated instance. This was a 
clan-battle, in which the Macgregors, headed by Allas- 
ter Macgregor, chief of the clan, encountered the 
sept of Colquhouns, commanded by Sir Humphrey 
Colquhoun of Luss. It is on all hands allowed that 
the action was desperately fought, and that the Col- 
quhouns were defeated with great slaughter, leaving 
two hundred of their name dead upon the field. But 
popular tradition has added other horrors to the tale. 
It is said, that Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, who was 
on horseback, escaped to the castle of Benechra, or 
Banochar, and was next day dragged out and mur- 
dered by the victorious Macgregors in cold blood. 
Buchanan of Auchmar, however, speaks of his slaugh- 
ter as a subsequent event, and as perpetrated by the 
Macfarlanes. Again, it is reported that the Macgreg- 



APPENDIX. 279 

ors murdered a number of youths, whom report of 
the intended battle had brought to be spectators, 
and whom the Colquhouns, anxious for their safety, 
had shut up in a barn to be out of danger. One 
account of the Macgregors denies this circumstance 
entirely : another ascribes it to the savage and blood- 
thirsty disposition of a single individual, the bastard 
brother of the laird of Macgregor, who amused him- 
self with this second massacre of the innocents, in 
express disobedience to the chief, by whom he was 
left their guardian during the pursuit of the Col- 
quhouns. It is added, that Macgregor bitterly 
lamented this atrocious action, and prophesied the 
ruin which it must bring upon their ancient clan. The 
following account of the conflict, which is indeed 
drawn up by a friend of the Clan-Gregor, is altogether 
silent on the murder of the youths. " In the spring 
of the year 1602, there happened great dissensions 
and troubles between the laird of Luss, chief of the 
Colquhouns, and Alexander, laird of Macgregor. 
The original of these quarrels proceeded from injuries 
and provocations mutually given and received not 
long before. Macgregor, however, wanting to have 
them ended in friendly conferences, marched at the 
head of two hundred of his clan to Leven, which bor- 
ders on Luss, his country, with a view of settling 
matters by the mediation of friends : but Luss had no 
such intentions, and projected his measures with a 
different view ; for he privately drew together a body 
of three hundred horse and five hundred foot, com- 
posed partly of his own clan and their followers, and 
partly of the Buchanans, his neighbors, and resolved 



2 So THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

to cut off Macgregor and his party to a man, in case 
the issue of the conference did not answer his incli- 
nation. But matters fell otherwise than he expected ; 
and though Macgregor had previous information of 
his insidious design, yet dissembling his resentment, 
he kept the appointment, and parted good friends in 
appearance. 

"No sooner was he gone, than Luss, thinking to 
surprise him and his party in full security, and with- 
out any dread or apprehension of his treachery, fol- 
lowed with all speed, and came up with him at a 
place called Glenfroon. Macgregor, upon the alarm, 
divided his men into two parties, the greatest part 
whereof he commanded himself, and the other he 
committed to the care of his brother John, who, by 
his orders, led them about another way, and attacked 
the Colquhouns in flank. Here it was fought with 
great bravery on both sides for a considerable time ; 
and, notwithstanding the vast disproportion of num- 
bers, Macgregor, in the end, obtained an absolute 
victory. So great was the rout, that two hundred of 
the Colquhouns were left dead upon the spot, most 
of the leading men were killed, and a multitude of 
prisoners taken. But what seemed most surprising 
and incredible in this defeat, was, that none of the 
Macgregors were missing, except John, the laird's 
brother, and one common fellow, though indeed 
many of them were wounded.' 1 — Professor Ross's 
History of the Family of Sutherland, 1 63 1 . 

The consequences of the battle of Glen-fruin was 
very calamitous to the family of Macgregor, who had 
already been considered as an unruly clan. The 



APPENDIX. 281 

widows of the slain Colquhouns, sixty, it is said, in 
number, appeared in doleful procession before the 
king at Sterling, each riding upon a white palfrey, 
and bearing in her hand the bloody shirt of her hus- 
band displayed upon a pike. James VI. was so 
much moved by the complaints of this "choir of 
mourning dames,' 1 that he let loose his vengeance 
against the Macgregors, without either bounds or 
moderation. The very name of the clan was pro- 
scribed, and those by whom it had been borne were 
given up to sword and fire, and absolutely hunted 
down by bloodhounds like wild beasts. Argyle and 
the Campbells on the one hand, Montrose with the 
Grahames and Buchanans on the other, are said to 
have been the chief instruments in suppressing this 
devoted clan. The laird of Macgregor surrendered 
to the former, on condition that he would take him 
out of Scottish ground. But, to use Birrell's expres- 
sion, he kept "a Highlandman's promise"; and, 
although he fulfilled his word to the letter, by carry- 
ing him as far as Berwick, he afterwards brought him 
back to Edinburgh, where he was executed with 
eighteen of his clan (Birrel\s Diary, 2d October, 
1603). The clan Gregor being thus driven to utter 
despair, seemed to have renounced the laws from the 
benefit of which they were excluded, and their dep- 
redations produced new acts of council, confirming 
the severity of their proscription, which had only the 
effect of rendering them still more united and des- 
perate. It is a most extraordinary proof of the 
ardent and invincible spirit of clanship, that, not- 
withstanding the repeated proscriptions providently 



282 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

ordained by the legislature, "for the timeous pre- 
venting the disorders and oppression that may fall 
out by the said name and clan of Macgregors and 
their followers, 11 they were in 171 5 and 1745, a potent 
clan, and continue to subsist as a distinct and 
numerous race. 

Note F. 

And zuhile the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor, round. — 
P. 98. 

When a chieftain designed to summon his clan, 
upon any sudden or important emergency, he slew a 
goat, and making a cross of any light wood, seared 
its extremities in the fire, and extinguished them in 
the blood of the animal. This was called the Fiery 
Cross, also Crean Tarigh, or the Cross of Shame, 
because disobedience to what the symbol implied, 
inferred infamy. It was delivered to a swift and 
trusty messenger, who ran full speed with it to the 
next hamlet, where he presented it to the principal 
person, with a single word, implying the place of 
rendezvous. He who received the symbol was bound 
to send it forward with equal dispatch to the next 
village ; and thus it passed with incredible celerity 
through all the district which owed allegiance to the 
chief, and also among his allies and neighbors, if the 
danger was common to them. At sight of the Fiery 
Cross, every man, from sixteen years old to sixty, 
capable of bearing arms, was obliged instantly to re- 
pair, in his best arms and accoutrements, to the place 
of rendezvous. He who failed to appear suffered the 



APPENDIX. 2 S3 

extremities of fire and sword, which were emblemati- 
cally denounced to the disobedient by the bloody and 
burnt marks upon this warlike signal. During the 
civil war of 1745-6, the Fiery Cross often made its 
circuit ; and upon one occasion it passed through the 
whole district of Breadalbane, a tract of thirty-two 
miles, in three hours. The late Alexander Stewart, 
Esq., of Invernahyle, described to me his having 
sent round the Fiery Cross through the district of 
Appine, during the same commotion. The coast was 
threatened by a descent from two English frigates, 
and the flower of the young men were with the army 
of Prince Charles Edward, then in England ; yet the 
summons was so effectual, that even old age and 
childhood obeyed it ; and a force was collected in a 
few hours, so numerous and so enthusiastic, that all 
attempt at the intended diversion upon the country 
of the absent warriors was in prudence abandoned, 
as desperate. 

This practice, like some others, is common to 
the Highlanders with the ancient Scandinavians, 
as will appear by the following extract from Olaus 
Magnus : — 

" When the enemy is upon the sea-coast, or within 
the limits of northern kingdomes, then presently, by 
the command of the principal governours, with the 
counsel and consent of the old soldiers, who are 
notably skilled in such like business, a staff of three 
hands length, in the common sight of them all, is 
carried, by the speedy running of some active young 
man, unto that village or city, with this command, — 
that on the third, fourth, or eighth day, one, two, or 



284 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

three, or else every man in particular, from fifteen 
years old, shall come with his arms, and expenses for 
ten or twenty days, upon pain that his or their houses 
shall be burnt (which is intimated by the burning of 
the staff), or else the master to be hanged (which 
is signified by the cord tied to it), to appear speedily 
on such a bank, or field, or valley, to hear the cause 
he is called, and to hear orders from the said provin- 
cial governours what he shall do. Wherefore that 
messenger, swifter than any post or waggon, having 
done his commission, comes slowly back again, bring- 
ing a token with him that he hath done all legally, and 
every moment one or another runs to every village, 
and tells those places what they must do. 11 . . . "The 
messengers, therefore, of the footmen, that are to give 
warning to the people to meet for the battail, run 
fiercely and swiftly ; for no snow, no rain, nor heat 
can stop them, nor night hold them ; but they will 
soon run the race they undertake. The first mes- 
senger tells it to the next village, and that to the 
next, and so the hubbub runs all over till they all 
know it in that stiff or territory, where, when, and 
wherefore they must meet. 7 ' — Olaus Magnus's His- 
tory of the Goths, englished by J. S., Lond. 1658, 
book iv. chap. 3, 4. 

Note G. 

That monk, of savage form and face. — P. 100. 

The state of religion in the middle ages afforded 
considerable facilities for those whose mode of life 
excluded them from regular worship, to secure, never- 



APPENDIX. 285 

theless, the ghostly assistance of confessors, perfectly 
willing to adapt the nature of their doctrine to the 
necessities and peculiar circumstances of their flock. 
Robin Hood, it is well known, had his celebrated do- 
mestic chaplain, Friar Tuck. And that same curtal 
friar was probably matched in manners and appear- 
ance by the ghostly fathers of the Tynedale robbers, 
who are thus described in an excommunication ful- 
minated against their patrons by Richard Fox, Bishop 
of Durham, tempore Henrici VII. "We have further 
understood, that there are many chaplains in the said 
territories of Tynedale and Redesdale, who are public 
and open mamtainers of concubinage, irregular, sus- 
pended, excommunicated, and interdicted persons, 
and withal so utterly ignorant of letters, that it has 
been found by those who objected this to them, that 
there were some who, having celebrated mass for ten 
years, were still unable to read the sacramental ser- 
vice. We have also understood there are persons 
among them who, although not ordained, do take 
upon them the offices of priesthood ; and, in con- 
tempt of God, celebrate the divine and sacred rites, 
and administer the sacraments, not only in sacred 
and dedicated places, but in those which are profane 
and interdicted, and most wretchedly ruinous ; they 
themselves being attired in ragged, torn, and most 
filthy vestments, altogether unfit to be used in divine, 
or even in temporal offices. The which said chap- 
lains do administer sacraments and sacramental rites 
to the aforesaid manifest and infamous thieves, rob- 
bers, depredators, receivers of stolen goods, and 
plunderers, and that without restitution, or intention 



286 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

to restore, as evinced by the act ; and do also openly 
admit them to the rites of ecclesiastical sepulchre, 
without exacting security for restitution, although 
they are prohibited from doing so by the sacred 
canons, as well as by the institutes of the saints 
and fathers. All which infers the heavy peril of 
their own souls, and is a pernicious example to the 
other believers in Christ, as well as no slight, but an 
aggravated injury, to the numbers despoiled and 
plundered of their goods, gear, herds, and chattels." 1 
To this lively and picturesque description of the 
confessors and churchmen of predatory tribes, there 
may be added some curious particulars respecting the 
priests attached to the several septs of native Irish, 
during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. These friars 
had indeed to plead, that the incursions, which they 
not only pardoned, but even encouraged, were made 
upon those hostile to them, as well in religion as from 
national antipathy ; but by Protestant writers they 
are uniformly alleged to be the chief instruments of 
Irish insurrection, the very well-spring of all rebel- 
lion towards the English government. Lithgow, the 
Scottish traveller, declares the Irish wood-kerne, or 
predatory tribes, to be but the hounds of their hunt- 
ing-priests, who directed their incursions by their pleas- 
ure, partly for sustenance, partly to gratify animosity, 
partly to foment general division, and always for the 

1 The Monition against the Robbers of Tynedale and 
Redesdale, with which I was favored by my friend Mr. Surtees 
of Mainsforth, may be found in the original Latin, in the Ap- 
pendix to the Introduction to the " Border Minstrelsy," No. 
VII. vol. i. p. 274 of the Edinburgh edition. 12 vols. 



APPENDIX. 287 

better security and easy domination of the friars. 1 
Derrick, the liveliness and minuteness of whose de- 
scriptions may frequently apologize for his doggerel 
verses, after describing an Irish feast, and the & en- 
couragement given by the songs of the bards to its 
termination in an incursion upon the parts of the 
country more immediately under the dominion of the 
English, records the no less powerful arguments 
used by the friar to excite their animosity : — 

"And more t'augment the flame, 

and rancour of their harte, 
The frier, of his counsells vile, 

to rebelles doth imparte 
Affirming that it is 

an almose deede to God, 
To make the English subjects taste 

the Irish rebells' rodde. 
To spoile, to kill, to burne, 

this frier's counsell is ; 
And for the doing of the same, 

he warrantes heavenlie blisse. 
He telles a holie tale; 

the white he tournes to blacke ; 
And through the pardons in his male, 

He workes a knavishe knacke." 

The wreckful invasion of a part of the English pale 
is then described with some spirit; the burning of 
houses, driving off cattle, and all pertaining to such 
predatory inroads, are illustrated by a rude cut. 
The defeat of the Irish by a party of English soldiers 
from the next garrison is then commemorated, and in 
like manner adorned with an engraving, in which the 

1 " Lithgow's Travels," first edition, p. 431. 



258 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

friar is exhibited mourning over the slain chieftain ; 
or, as the rubric expresses it, 

" The frier then, that treacherous knave ; with ough ough-hone 
lament, 
To see his cousin Devill's-son to have so foul event." 

The matter is handled at great length in the text, 
of which the following verses are more than a suffi- 
cient sample : — 

" The frier seying this, 

lamentes that lucklesse parte, 
And curseth to the pitte of hell 

the death man's sturdie harte 
Yet for to quight them with 

the frier taketh paine, 
For all the synnes that ere he did 

remission to obtain. 
And therefore serves his booke, 

the candell and the bell. 
But thinke you that such apishe toies 

bring damned souls from hell ? 
It 'longs not to my parte 

infernall things to knowe ; 
But I believe till later daie, 

thei rise not from belovve. 
Yet hope that friers give 

to this rebellious rout, 
If that their souls should chaunce in hell, 

to bring them quicklie out, 
Doeth make them lead suche lives, 

as neither God nor man, 
Without revenge for their desartes, 

permitte or suffer can. 
Thus friers are the cause, 

the fountain, and the spring, 



APPENDIX. 289 

Of hurleburles in this lande, 

of eche unhappie thing. 
Thei cause them to rebelle 

against their soveraigne quene, 
And through rebellion often tymes, 

their lives doe vanish clene. 
So as by friers ' meanes, 

in whom all follie swimme, 
The Irishe karne doe often lose 

the life, with hedde and limme." 1 

As the Irish tribes, and those of the Scottish 
Highlanders, are much more intimately allied by 
language, manners, dress, and customs than the 
antiquaries of either country have been willing to 
admit, I flatter myself I have here produced a strong 
warrant for the character sketched in the text. The 
following picture, though of a different kind, serves 
to establish the existence of ascetic religionists, to a 
comparatively late period, in the Highlands and 
Western Isles. There is a great deal of simplicity 
in the description, for which, as for much similar 
information, I am obliged to Dr. John Martin, who 
visited the Hebrides at the suggestion of Sir Robert 
Sibbald, a Scottish antiquarian of eminence, and 
early in the eighteenth century published a descrip- 
tion of them, which procured him admission into the 
Royal Society. He died in London about 17 19. 

1 This curious picture of Ireland was inserted by the author 
in the republication of Somers's Tracts, vol. i., in which the 
plates have been also inserted, from the only impressions 
known to exist, belonging to the copy in the Advocates' 
Library. See Somers's Tracts, vol. i. pp. 591, 594. 



290 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

His work is a strange mixture of learning, observa- 
tion, and gross credulity. 

" I remember," says this author, " I have seen an 
old lay-capuchin here (in the Island of Benbecula), 
called in their language Brahir-bocht, that is, Poor 
Brother ; which is literally true ; for he answers this 
character, having nothing but what is given him : he 
holds himself fully satisfied with food and rayment, 
and lives in as great simplicity as any of his order : 
his diet is very mean, and he drinks only fair water ; 
his habit is no less mortifying than that of his 
brethren elsewhere : he wears a short coat, which 
comes no farther than his middle, with narrow sleeves 
like a waistcoat : he wears a plad above it, girt about 
the middle, which reaches to his knee : the plad is 
fastened on his breast with a wooden pin, his neck 
bare, and his feet often so too ; he wears a hat 
for ornament, and the string about it is a bit of a 
fisher's line, made of horse-hair. This plad he wears 
instead of a gown worn by those of his order in 
other countries. I told him he wanted the flaxen 
girdle that men of his order usually wear : he an- 
swered me, that he wore a leathern one, which was 
the same thing. Upon the matter, if he is spoke to 
when at meat, he answers again ; which is contrary 
to the custom of his order. This poor man fre- 
quently diverts himself with angling of trouts ; he 
lies upon straw, and has no bell (as others have) to 
call him to his devotions, but only his conscience, 
as he told me." — Martin's Description of the 
Western Highlands, p. 82. 



APPENDIX. 29 



Note H, 



Sounds, too, had come in midnight blast 

Of charging steeds, careering fast 

Along Denharrows shingly side, 

Where tnortal horseman ne'er might ride. — P. 108. 

A presage of the kind alluded to in the text, is 
still believed to announce death to the ancient High- 
land family of McLean of Lochbuy. The spirit of an 
ancestor slain in battle is heard to gallop along a 
stony bank, and then to ride thrice around the family 
residence, ringing his fairy bridle, and thus intimating 
the approaching calamity. How easily the eye as 
well as the ear may be deceived upon such occasions, 
is evident from the stories of armies in the air, 
and other spectral phenomena, with which history 
abounds. Such an apparition is said to have been 
witnessed upon the side of Southfell mountain, be- 
tween Penrith and Keswick, upon the 23d June, 1744, 
by two persons, William Lancaster of Blakehills, and 
Daniel Stricket his servant, whose attestation to the 
fact, with a full account of the apparition, dated the 
21st July, 1745, is printed in Clarke's "Survey of 
the Lakes. 11 The apparition consisted of several 
troops of horse moving in regular order, with a 
steady rapid motion, making a curved sweep around 
the fell, and seeming to the spectators to disappear 
over the ridge of the mountain. Many persons 
witnessed this phenomenon, and observed the last, 
or last but one, of the supposed troop, occasionally 
leave his rank, and pass at a gallop to the front, when 
he resumed the same steady pace. This curious 



292 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

appearance, making the necessary allowance for 
imagination, may be perhaps sufficiently accounted 
for by optical deception. — Survey of the Lakes, 
p. 25. 

Supernatural intimations of approaching fate are 
not, I believe, confined to Highland families. Howel 
mentions having seen, at a lapidary's, in 1632, a 
monumental stone, prepared for four persons of the 
name of Oxenham, before the death of each of whom 
the inscription stated a white bird to have appeared 
and fluttered around the bed while the patient was in 
the last agony {Familiar Letters, edit. 1726, p. 247). 
Glanville mentions one family, the members of which 
received this solemn sign by music, the sound of 
which floated from the family residence, and seemed 
to die in a neighboring wood ; another, that of 
Captain Wood, of Bampton, to whom the signal was 
given by knocking. But the most remarkable in- 
stance of the kind occurs in the MS. Memoirs of 
Lady Fanshaw, so exemplary for her conjugal affec- 
tion. Her husband, Sir Richard, and she, chanced, 
during their abode in Ireland, to visit a friend, the 
head of a sept, who resided in his ancient baronial 
castle, surrounded with a moat. At midnight she 
was awakened by a ghastly and supernatural scream, 
and, looking out of bed, beheld, by the moonlight, a 
female face and part of the form, hovering at the 
window. The distance from the ground, as well as 
the circumstance of the moat, excluded the possibility 
that what she beheld was of this world. The face 
was that of a young and rather handsome woman, 
but pale ; and the hair, which was reddish, was loose 



APPENDIX. 293 

and dishevelled. The dress, which Lady Fanshaw's 
terror did not prevent her remarking accurately, was 
that of the ancient Irish. This apparition continued 
to exhibit itself for some time, and then vanished 
with two shrieks similar to that which had first 
excited Lady Fanshaw's attention. In the morning, 
with infinite terror, she communicated to her host 
what she had witnessed, and found him prepared not 
only to credit but to account for the apparition. " A 
near relation of my family," said he, " expired last 
night in this castle. We disguised our certain ex- 
pectation of the event from you, lest it should throw 
a cloud over the cheerful reception which was due 
you. Now, before such an event happens in this 
family and castle, the female spectre whom you have 
seen always is visible. She is believed to be the 
spirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my 
ancestors degraded himself by marrying and whom 
afterwards, to expiate the dishonor done his family 
he caused to be drowned in the castle moat." 

Note I. 

The Taghairm calPd ; by -which, afar, 

Our sires foresaw the events of war. — P. 140. 

The Highlanders, like all rude people, had various 
superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One 
of the most noted was the Taghairm^ mentioned in 
the text. A person was wrapped up in a skin of a 
newly slain bullock, and deposited beside a waterfall, 
or at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other 
strange, wild, and unusual situation, where the 



294 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of 
horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the 
question proposed : and whatever was impressed 
upon him by his exalted imagination, passed for the 
inspiration of the disembodied spirits, who haunt the 
desolate recesses. In some of these Hebrides, they 
attribute the same oracular power to a large black 
stone by the sea-shore, which they approached with 
certain solemnities, and considered the first fancy 
which came into their own minds, after they did so, 
to be the undoubted dictate of the tutelar deity of 
the stone, and, as such, to be, if possible, punctually 
complied with. Martin has recorded the following 
curious modes of Highland augury, in which the 
Taghairm, and its effects upon the person who was 
subjected to it, may serve to illustrate the text. 

"■It was an ordinary thing among the over-curious 
to consult an invisible oracle, concerning the fate of 
families and battles, etc. This was performed three 
different ways : the first was by a company of men, 
one of whom, being detached by lot, was afterwards 
carried to a river, which was the boundary between 
two villages ; four of the company laid hold on him, 
and, having shut his eyes, they took him by the legs 
and arms, and then, tossing him to and again, struck 
his hips with force against the bank. One of them 
cried out, 'What is it you have got here? 1 another 
answers, i A log of birch-wood.'' The other cries again, 
' Let his invisible friends appear from all quarters, and 
let them relieve him by giving an answer to our pres- 
ent demands ' ; and in a few minutes after, a number 
of little creatures came from the sea, who answered 



APPENDIX. 295 

the question, and disappeared suddenly. The man 
was then set at liberty, and they all returned home, 
to take their measures according to the predictions 
of their false prophets ; but the poor deluded fools 
were abused, for their answer was still ambiguous. 
This was always practised in the night, and may liter- 
ally be called the works of darkness. 

4 * I had an account from the most intelligent and 
judicious men in the Isle of Skie, that about sixty- 
two years ago, the oracle was thus consulted only 
once, and that was in the parish of Kilmartin, on the 
east side, by a wicked and mischievous race of people, 
who are now extinguished, both root and branch. 

" The second way of consulting the oracle was by 
a party of men, who first retired to solitary places, 
remote from any house, and there they singled out 
one of their number, and wrapt him in a big cow's 
hide, which they folded about him ; his whole body 
was covered with it, except his head, and so left in 
this posture all night, until his invisible friends re- 
lieved him, by giving a proper answer to the question 
in hand ; which he received, as he fancied, from sev- 
eral persons that he found about him all that time. 
His consorts returned to him at the break of day, and 
then he communicated his news to them ; which often 
proved fatal to those concerned in such unwarrant- 
able inquiries. 

" There was a third way of consulting, which was 
a confirmation of the second above mentioned. The 
same company who put the man into the hide, took 
a live cat, and put him on a spit ; one of the number 
was employed to turn the spit, and one of his consorts 



296 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

inquired of him, 'What are you doing? ' he answered, 
' I roast this cat, until his friends answer the question ' ; 
which must be the same that was proposed by the 
man shut up in the hide. And afterwards, a very big 
cat 1 comes, attended by a number of lesser cats, de- 
siring to relieve the cat turned upon the spit, and 
then answers the question. If this answer proved the 
same that was given to the man in the hide, then it 
was taken as a confirmation of the other, which, in 
this case, was believed infallible. 

" Mr. Alexander Cooper, present minister of North- 
Vist, told me that one John Erach, in the Isle of 
Lewis, assured him it was his fate to have been led 
by his curiosity with some who consulted this oracle, 
and that he was a night within the hide, as above 
mentioned ; during which time he felt and heard such 
terrible things, that he could not express them ; the 
impression it made on him was such as could never 
go off, and he said, for a thousand worlds he would 
never again be concerned in the like performance, 
for this had disordered him to a high degree. He 
confessed it ingenuously, and with an air of great 
remorse, and seemed to be penitent under a just 
sense of so great a crime : he declared this about five 
years since, and is still living in the Lewis for any- 
thing I know." — Description of the Western Isles, 
p. no. See also Pennant's Scottish Tour, vol. ii. 
p. 361. 

1 The reader may have met with the story of the " King of 
the Cats," in Lord Littleton's Letters. It is well known in the 
Highlands as a njursery tale. 



APPENDIX. 297 

Note K. 

Alice Brand. — P. 150. 

This little fairy tale is founded upon a very curious 
Danish ballad, which occurs in the Kampe I r zser, 
a collection of heroic songs, first published in 1591, 
and reprinted in 1695, inscribed by Anders Sofrensen, 
the collector and editor, to Sophia, Queen of Den- 
mark. I have been favored with a literal translation 
of the original, by my learned friend Mr. Robert 
Jamieson, whose deep knowledge of Scandinavian 
antiquities will, I hope, one day be displayed in illus- 
tration of the history of Scottish Ballad and Song, 
for which no man possesses more ample materials. 
The story will remind the readers of the Border 
Minstrelsy of the tale of " Young Tamlane." But this 
is only a solitary and not very marked instance of 
coincidence, whereas several of the other ballads in 
the same collection find exact counterparts in the 
Koemfie Viser. Which may have been the originals, 
will be a question for future antiquaries. Mr. Jamie- 
son, to secure the power of literal translation, has 
adopted the old Scottish idiom, which approaches 
so near to that of the Danish, as almost to give word 
for word, as well as line for line, and indeed in many 
verses the orthography alone is altered. As Wester 
Haf, mentioned in the first stanzas of the ballad, 
means the West Sea, in opposition to the Baltic, 
or East Sea, Mr. Jamieson inclines to be of opinion, 
that the scene of the disenchantment is laid in one 
of the Orkney or Hebride Islands. To each verse in 



298 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

the original is added a burden, having a kind of 
meaning of its own, but not applicable, at least not 
uniformly applicable, to the sense of the stanza to 
which it is subjoined ; this is very common, both 
in Danish and Scottish song. 

THE ELFIN GRAY. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH " K^MPE VISER," PAGE 
143, AND FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1591. 

Der ligger en void i Vester Haf, 

Der agter e7i bonde at bygge. 
Hand forer did haade hog og hund, 

Og agter der om vinteren at ligge. 
(DE VILDE DIUR OG DIURENE UDI SKORVEN.) 

I. 
There liggs a wold in Wester Haf, 

There a husbande means to bigg, 
And thither he carries baith hawk and hound, 

There meaning the winter to ligg. 
( The wild deer and daes i' the shaw out.) 

II. 
He taks wi' him baith hound and cock, 

The langer he means to stay, 
The wild deer in the shaws that are, 

May sairly rue the day. 
( The wild deer, etc.) 

III. 
He's hew'd the beech, and he's fell'd the aik, 

Sae has he the poplar gray ; 
And grim in mood was the grewsome elf, 

That be sae bald he may. 



APPENDIX. 299 

IV. 
He hew'd him kipples, he hew'd him bawks, 

Wi' mickle moil and haste ; 
Syne speer'd the Elf i' the knock that bade 

" Wha's hacking here sae fast ? " 

v. 

Syne up and spak the weiest Elf, 

Crean'd as an immert sma : 
" It's here is come a Christian man; — 

I'll fley him or he ga." 

VI. 
It's up syne started the firsten Elf, 

And glowr'd about sae grim : 
" It's we'll awa to the husbande's house, 

And hald a court on him. 

VII. 

" Here hews he down baith skugg and shaw, 

And works us skaith and scorn : 
His huswife he sail gie to me ; — 

They's rue the day they were born ! " 

VIII. 

The Elfin a' i' the knock that were, 

Gaed dancing in a string: 
They nighed near the husband's house ; 

Sae lang their tails did hing. 

IX. 

The hound he yowls i' the yard, 

The herd toots in his horn ; 
The earn scraighs, and the cock craws, 

As the husbande has gi'en him his corn.* 

1 This singular quatrain stands thus in the original : — 
" Hundcn hand gior i gaarden ; 
Hiorden tude i sit horn; 
CErnen skriger, og hanen galer, 
Som bonden hafd6 gifvet sit korn." 



300 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

x. 

The Elfen were five score and seven, 

Sai laidly and sae grim ; 
And they the husband's guests maun be, 

To eat and drink wi' him. 

XI. 

The husbande, out o' Villenshaw 
At his winnock the Elves can see : 

" Help me, now, Jesu, Mary's son ; 
Thir Elves they mint at me 1 " 

XII. 
In every nook a cross he coost, 

In his chalmer maist ava; 
The Elfen a* were fley'd thereat. 

And flew to the wild-wood shaw. 

XIII. 

And some flew east, and some flew west, 
And some to the norwart flew ; 

And some they flew to the deep dale down, 
There still they are I trow. 1 

XIV. 
It was then the weist Elf, 

In at the door braids he ; 
Agast was the husbande, for that Elf 

For cross nor sign wad flee. 

XV. 

The huswife she was a canny wife. 

She set the Elf at the board ; 
She set before him baith ale and meat 

Wi' many a weel-waled word. 

In the Danish : — 
" Somme fioyS oster, og S£»mm6 floyd vester, 
Nogle floye nor paa, 
Nogle floye ned i dybene dald, 
Jeg troer de ere- der emdnu." 



APPENDIX. 301 



XVI. 



" Hear thou, Gudeman o' Villenshaw, 

What now I say to thee ; 
Wha bade thee bigg within our bounds, 

Without the leave o' me ? 

XVII. 

" But, an thou in our bounds will bigg, 

And bide as well as may be, 
Then thou thy dearest huswife maun 

To me for a lemman gie." 



Up spak the luckless husbande then, 
As God the grace him gae : 

" Eline she is to me sae dear, 
Her thou may nae-gate hae." 

XIX. 

Till the Elf he answered as he couth : 

" Let but my huswife be, 
And take whate'er, o' gude or gear 

Is mine, awa wi' thee." 

XX. 

" Thine I'll thy Eline tak and thee, 

Aneath my feet to tread ; 
And hide thy goud and white monie 

Aneath my dwelling stead." 



The husbande and his househald a* 

In sary rede they join : 
" Far better that she be now forfairn, 

Nor that we a' should tyne." 



302 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

XXII. 

Up, will of rede, the husbande stood, 

Wi' heart fu' sad and sair ; 
And he has gien his huswife Eline 

Wi' the young Elfe to fare. 



Then blyth grew he, and sprang about 

He took her in his arm ; 
The rud it left her comely cheek ; 

Her heart was clem'd wi' harm. 



A waefu' woman then she was ane, 
And the moody tears loot fa' ; 

" God rew on me, unseely wife, 
How hard a weird I fa ! 



" My fay I plight to the fairest wight 
That man on mold mat see ; — 

Maun I now mell wi' a laidly El, 
His light lemman to be? " 

XXVI. 

He minted ance — he minted twice, 
Wae wax'd her heart that syth : 

Syne the laidliest fiend he grew that e'er 
To mortal ee did kyth. 



When he the thirden time can mint 
To Mary's son she pray'd, 

And the laidly Elf was clean awa, 
And a fair knight in his stead. 



APPENDIX. 3°3 



This fell under a linden green, 
That again his shape he found ; 

O wae and care was the word nae mair, 
A' were sae glad that stound. 

XXIX. 

" O dearest Eline, hear thou this, 

And thou my wife sail be, 
And a' the goud in merry England 

Sae freely I'll gi'e thee ! 

XXX. 

" Whan I was but a little wee bairn, 

My mither died me fra ; 
My stepmither sent me awa fra her; 

I turn'd till an Elfin Gray. 

XXXI. 

" To thy husbande I a gift will gie, 

Wi' mickle state and gear, 
As mends for Eline his huswife ; — 

Thou's be my heartis dear." 

XXXII. 

" Thou nobil knyght, we thank now God 
That has freed us fiae skaith ; 

Sae wed thou thee a maiden free, 
And joy attend ye baith ! 

XXXIII. 

" Sin I to thee nae maik can be 

My dochter may be thine ; 
And thy gud will right to fulfill, 

Lat this be our propine." — 



3°4 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



XXXIV. 

" I thank thee, Eline, thou wise woman ; 

My praise thy worth sail ha'e ; 
And thy love gin I fail to win, 

Thou here at hame sail stay." 

XXXV. 

The husbande biggit now on his oe, 
And nane ane wrought him wrang; 

His dochter wore crown in Engeland, 
And happy lived and lang. 

xxxvi. 

Now Eline, the husbande's huswife has 
Cour'd a* her grief and harms 

She's mither to a noble queen 
That sleeps in a kingis arms. 



GLOSSARY TO "THE ELFIN GRAY." 



STANZA I. 

Wold, a wood ; woody fastness. 

Husbande, from the Danish hos, 
with, and bonde, a villain, or 
bondsman, who was a cul- 
tivator of the ground, and 
could not quit the estate to 
which he was attached, with- 
out the permission of his 
lord. This is the sense of 
the word in the old Scot- 
tish records. In the Scot- 
tish " Burghe Laws," trans- 
lated from the Reg. Majest. 



(Auchinleck MS. in the 
Adv. Lib.), it is used in- 
discriminately with the Da- 
nish and Swedish bonde. 

Bigg, build. 

Ligg, lie. 

Daes, does. 

STANZA II. 

Shaw, wood. 

Sairly, sorely. 

STANZA III. 

Aik, oak. 

Grewsome, terrible. 

Bald, bold. 



APPENDIX. 



3°5 



STANZA IV. 

Kipples (couples), beams 
joined at the top, for sup- 
porting a roof, in building. 

Baivks, balks; cross beams. 

Moil, laborious industry. 

Speerd, asked. 

Knock, hillock. 

STANZA V. 

Weiest, smallest. 

Creaiid, shrunk, diminished ; 
from the Gaelic, crian, very 
small. 

Immert, emmet; ant. 

Christian, used in the Danish 
ballads, etc., in contradis- 
tinction to demoniac, as it is 
in England in contradistinc- 
tion to brute ; in which sense 
a person of the lower class 
in England would call a 
yew or a Turk a Christian, 

Fley, frighten. 

STANZA VI. 
Glowr'd, stared. 
Bald, hold. 

STANZA VII. 

Skugg, shade. 
Skaith, harm. 

STANZA VIII. 
Nighed, approached. 

STANZA IX. 

Yowls, howls. 

Toots. — In the Danish tude is 

applied both to the howling 



of a dog, and the sound of a 
horn. 
Scraiche, screams. 

STANZA X. 

Laidly, loathly ; disgustingly 

ugly. 
Grim, fierce. 

STANZA XI. 
Winnock, window. 
Mint, aim at. 

STANZA XII. 
Coost, cast. 
Chalmer, chamber. 
Maist, most. 
Ava, of all. 

STANZA XIII. 
Norwart, northward. 
Trow, believe. 

STANZA XIV. 
Braids, strides quickly for- 
ward. 
Wad, would. 

STANZA XV. 
Canny, adroit. 
Mony, many. 
Weel-waled, well chosen. 

STANZA XVII. 

A?i, if. 
Bide, abide. 
Lemman, mistress. 

STANZA XVIII. 
Nae-gate, nowise. 

STANZA XIX. 
Couth, could, knew how to. 



3° 6 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



Lat be, let alone. 

Gudes, goods ; property. 
STANZA XX. 

Aneath, beneath. 

Dwa I 'ling-stead, dwelling- 
place. 

STANZA XXI. 

Sary, sorrowful. 

Rede, counsel ; consultation. 

For/aim, forlorn ; lost, gone. 

Tyne (verb neuter), be lost; 
perish. 

STANZA XXII. 

Will of rede, bewildered in 
thought ; in the Danish orig- 
inal, " vildraadage ;" Lat. 
" inops consilii ; " Gr. airopov. 
This expression is left 
among the desiderata in 
the Glossary to Ritson's 
Romances, and has never 
been explained. It is ob- 
solete in the Danish as well 
as in English. 

Fare, go. 

STANZA XXIII. 

Rud, red of the cheek. 

Clem'd, in the Danish, klemt 
(which, in the North of 
England, is still in use, as 
the word starved is with 
us) ; brought to a dying 
state. It is used by our 
old comedians. 

Harm, grief; as in the original, 
and in the old Teutonic, 
English, and Scottish poetry. 



STANZA XXIV. 

Waefu, woful. 

Moody, strongly and wilfully 
passionate. 

Rew, take ruth ; pity. 

Unseely, unhappy ; unblest. 

Weird, fate. 

Fa (I si. Dan. and Swed.), 
take ; get ; acquire ; pro- 
cure ; have for my lot. 
This Gothic verb answers, 
in its direct and secondary 
significations, exactly to the 
Latin capio ; and Allan 
Ramsay was right in his 
definition of it. It is quite 
a different word from fa' , 
an abbreviation of fall, or 
befall ; and is the principal 
root in fengan, to fang, 
take, or lay hold of. 

STANZA XXV. 

Fay, faith. 

Mold, mould ; earth. 

Mat, mote ; might. 

Maun, must. 

Me 11, mix. 

El, an elf. This term, in the 
Welsh, signifies what has in 
itself th e power of m otion ; a 
moving principle ; an intel- 
ligejice ; a spirit ; an angel. 
In the Hebrew it bears the 
same import. 

STANZA XXVI. 
Minted, attempted ; meant ; 



APPENDIX. 



307 



showed a mind, or intention 

to. The original is : — 
" Hande mindte hende forst — 

og anden gang ; — 
Hun giordis i hiortet sa vee : 
End blef hand den Icdistc 

deifvel 
Mand kunde med oyen see. 
Der hand vilde minde den 

tredie gang," etc. 
Syth, tide ; time. 
Kyth, appear. 

stanza xxvni. 
Stound, hour ; time ; moment. 

STANZA XXIX. 
Merry (old Teutonic mere), 
famous ; renowned ; an- 
swering in its etymological 
meaning, exactly to the Latin 
Mactus. Hence merry-men, 
as the address of a chief to 
his followers ; meaning, not 



men of mirth, but of renown. 
The term is found in its 
original sense in the Gaelic 
mara, and the Welsh mawr, 
great ; and in the oldest Teu- 
tonic Romances, mar, mcr, 
and mere, have sometimes 
the same signification. 

STANZA XXXI. 
Mends, amends ; recompense. 

STANZA XXXIII. 
Maik, match ; peer ; equal. 
Propine, pledge ; gift. 

STANZA XXXV. 

Oe, an island of the second 
magnitude ; an island of the 
first magnitude being called 
a /and, and one of the third 
magnitude a holm. 

STANZA XXXVI. 
Cour'd, recovered. 



THE GHAIST'S WARNING. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH K/EMPE VISER, PAGE 721. 

[By the permission of Mr. Jamieson, this ballad is added 
from the same curious collection. It contains some pas- 
sages of great pathos.] 



Svend Dyring hand rider sig op under oe, 

( Vare jeg selver wig) 
Der fceste hand sig saa ven en m'oe. 

(Mig lyster udi I unden at ride,) etc. 



308 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Child Dyring has ridden him up under oe, 1 

{And O gin I were young !) 
There wedded he him sae fair 2 a may. 

(/' the greetiwood it lists me to ride.) 

Thegither they lived for seven lang year, 

(And 0, etc.) 
And they seven bairns hae gotten in fere. 

(/' the greenwood, etc.) 

Sae Death's come there intill that stead, 
And that winsome lily flower is dead. 

That swain he has ridden him up under oe, 
And syne he has married anither may. 

He's married a may, and he's fessen her hame; 
But she was a grim and laidly dame. 

When into the castell court drave she, 

The seven bairns stood wi' the tear in their ee. 

The bairns they stood wi' dule and dout ; — 
She up wi' her foot, and she kicked them out. 

Nor ale nor meed to the bairnies she gave : 
" But hunger and hate frae me ye's have." 

She took frae them the bowster blae, 
And said, " Ye sail ligg i' the bare strae ! " 

1 " Under oe." — The original expression has been preserved 
here and elsewhere, because no other could be found to sup- 
ply its place. There is just as much meaning in it in the 
translation as in the original ; but it is a standard Danish 
ballad phrase ; and as such, it is hoped, will be allowed to pass. 

2 "Fair." — The Danish and Swedish ven, van, or venne, 
and the Gaelic ban, in the oblique cases bhcin (van), is the 
origin of the Scottish bonny, which has so much puzzled all 
the etymologists. 



APPENDIX. 309 

She took frae them the groff wax-light : 
Says, " Now ye sail ligg i' the mirk a' night ! " 

'Twas lang i' the night, and the bairnies grat ; 
Their mither she under the mools heard that; 

That heard the wife under the eard that lay ; 
" For sooth maun I to my bairnies gae ! " 

That wife can stand up at our Lord's knee, 
And " May I gang and my bairnies see ! " 

She prigged sae sair, and she prigged sae lang 
That he at the last ga'e her leave to gang. 

"And thou sail come back when the cock does craw : 
For thou nae langer sail bide awa." 

Wi' her banes sae stark a bowt she gae : 
She's riven baith wa' and marble gray. 1 

When near to the dwalling she can gang, 
The dogs they wow'd till the lift it rang. 

When she came till the castell yett, 
Her eldest dochter stood thereat. 

" Why stand ye here, dear dochter mine ? 
How are sma brithers and sisters thine ? " — 

" For sooth ye're a woman baith fair and fine ; 
But ye are na dear mither of mine." — 

1 The original of this and the following stanza is very 
fine : — 

" Hun skod op sine modige been, 
Der revenede muur og graa marmorsteen. 
Der hun gik igenmen den by, 
De hunde de tude saa hojt 1 sky." 



3io THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

" Och ! how should I be fine or fair ? 

My cheek it is pale, and the ground's my lair. 

" My mither was white, wi' cheek sae red ; 
But thou art wan, and liker ane dead.*' — 

" Och ! how should I be white and red, 
Sae lang as I've been cauld and dead ? " 

When she cam till the chalmer in, 

Down the bairns' cheeks the tears did rin. 

She buskit the tane, and she brush'd it there, 
She kem'd and plaited the tither's hair. 

The thirden she doodled upon her knee, 
And the fourthen she dichted sae cannilie. 

She's ta'en the fifthen upon her lap, 
And sweetly suckled it at her pap. 

Till her eldest dochter syne said she, 

" Ye bid Child Dyring come here to me." 

When he cam till the chalmer in, 
Wi' angry mood she said to him : 

" I left you routh o* ale and bread ; 
My bairnies quail for hunger and need. 

" I left ahind me braw bowsters blae; 
My bairnies are ligging i' the bare strae. 

" I left ye sae mony a groff wax-light ; 
My bairnies ligg i' the mirk a' nicht. 

" Gin aft I come back to visit thee, 

Wae, dowy, and weary thy luck shall be." 

Up spak little Kirstin in bed that lay : 
" To thy bairnies I'll do the best I may." 



APPENDIX. 



3 11 



Aye when they heard the dog nirr and bell, 
Sae ga'e they the bairnies bread and ale. 

Aye when the dog did wow, in haste 

They cross'd and sain'd themselves frae the ghaist. 

Aye whan the little dog yowl'd, with fear 

{And O gin I were young /) 
They shook at the thought that the dead was near. 

(/ ' the greenwood it lists me to ride. ) 
or, 

{Fair words sae motry a heart they cheer.) 



GLOSSARY TO "THE GHAIST'S WARNING." 



May, maid. 
Lists, pleases. 
Stead, place. 
Bairns, children. 
In fere, together. 
Winsome, engaging ; giving 

joy (old Teutonic). 
Syne, then. 

Fessen, fetched, brought. 
Drave, drove. 
Dule, sorrow. 
Dout, fear. 
Bowster, bolster ; cushion ; 

bed. 
Blae, blue. 
Strae, straw. 

Groff, great : large in girt. 
Mark, mirk ; dark. 
Lang i the night, late. 
Grat, wept. 
Moots, mould ; earth. 



Eard, earth. 

Gae, go. 

Prigged, entreated earnestly 

and perseveringly. 
Gang, go. 
Craw, crow. 
Banes, bones. 
Stark, strong. 
Bowt, bolt ; elastic spring, like 

that of a bolt, or arrow from 

a bow. 
Riven, split asunder. 
XV a , wall. 
Wow'd, howled. 
Lift, sky ; firmament ; air. 
) T ett, gate. 
Sma, small. 
Lire, complexion. 
Cald, cold. 
Till, to. 
I Rin, run. 



3 I2 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



Buskit, dressed. 
A'em'd, combed. 
Tither, the other. 
Routh, plenty. 
Quail, are quelled ; 
Need, want. 
A kind, behind. 
Braw, brave ; fine. 
Dowy, sorrowful. 
Nirr, snarl. 



die. 



Bell, bark. 

Sained, blessed : literally, 
signed with the sign of the 
cross. Before the introduc- 
tion of Christianity, Runes 
were used in saining, as a 
spell against the power 
of enchantment and evil 
genii. 

Ghaist, ghost. 



Note L. 

Why sounds yon stroke on beach and oak, 

Our moonlight circle's screen ? 
Or who cotnes here to chase the deer, 

Beloved of our Elfin Queen? — P. 162. 

It has been already observed, that fairies, if not 
positively malevolent, are capricious, and easily of- 
fended. They are, like other proprietors of forests, 
peculiarly jealous of their rights of vert and venison, 
as appears from the cause of offence taken, in the 
original Danish ballad. This jealousy was also an 
attribute of the northern Duergar, or dwarfs ; to 
many of whose distinctions the fairies seem to have 
succeeded, if, indeed, they are not the same class of 
beings. In the huge metrical record of German Chiv- 
alry, entitled the Helden-Buch, Sir Hildebrand, and 
the other heroes of whom it treats, are engaged in 
one of their most desperate adventures, from a rash 
violation of the rose-garden of an Elfin, or Dwarf 
King. 



APPENDIX. 313 

There are yet traces of a belief in this worst and 
most malicious order of fairies among the border 
wilds. Dr. Leyden has introduced such a dwarf into 
his ballad entitled the Cout of Keeldar, and has not 
forgotten his characteristic detestation of the chase. 

" The third blast that young Keeldar blew, 
Still stood the limber fern, 
And a wee man, of swarthy hue, 
Upstarted by a cairn. 

" His russet weeds were brown as heath 
That clothes the upland fell ; 
And the hair of his head was frizzly red 
As the purple heather-bell. 

"An urchin, clad in prickles red, 
Clung cowering to his arm ; 
The hounds they howl'd, and backward fled, 
As struck by fairy charm. 

" ' Why rises high the stag-hound's cry, 
Where stag-hound ne'er should be ? 
Why wakes that horn the silent morn 
Without the leave of me ? ' — 

" ' Brown dwarf, that o'er the muirland strays, 
Thy name to Keeldar tell ! ' — 
' The Brown Man of the Muirs, who stays 
Beneath the heather-bell.' 

" ' 'Tis sweet beneath the heather-bell 
To live in autumn brown ; 
And sweet to hear the lav'rock's swell, 
Far, far from tower and town. 

" ' But woe betide the shrilling horn, 
The chase's surly cheer! 
And ever that hunter is forlorn, 
Whom first at morn I hear.' " 



314 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

The poetical picture here given of the Duergar cor- 
responds exactly with the following Northumbrian 
legend, with which I was lately favored by my learned 
and kind friend, Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth, who has 
bestowed indefatigable labor upon the antiquities of 
the English Border counties. The subject is in itself 
so curious, that the length of the note will, I hope, 
be pardoned. 

" I have only one record to offer of the appearance 
of our Northumbrian Duergar. My narratrix is Eliza- 
beth Cockburn, an old wife of Offerton, in this county, 
whose credit, in a case of this kind, will not, I hope, 
be much impeached, when I add, that she is, by her 
dull neighbors, supposed to be occasionally insane, 
but, by herself, to be at those times endowed with a 
faculty of seeing visions, and spectral appearances, 
which shun the common ken. 

" In the year before the great rebellion, two young 
men from Newcastle were sporting on the high moors 
above Elsdon, and after pursuing their game several 
hours, sat down to dine in a green glen near one of 
the mountain streams. After their repast, the younger 
lad ran to the brook for water, and after stooping to 
drink, was surprised, on lifting his head again, by the 
appearance of a brown dwarf, who stood on a crag 
covered with brackens, across the burn. This ex- 
traordinary personage did not appear to be above half 
the stature of a common man, but was uncommonly 
stout and broad-built, having the appearance of vast 
strength. His dress was entirely brown, the color of 
the brackens, and his head covered with frizzled red 
hair. His countenance was expressive of the most 



APPENDIX. 315 

savage ferocity, and his eyes glared like a bull. It 
seems he addressed the young man first, threatening 
him with his vengeance for having trespassed on his 
demesnes, and asking him if he knew in whose pres- 
ence he stood? The youth replied, that he now sup- 
posed him to be the lord of the moors ; that he 
offended through ignorance ; and offered to bring 
him the game he had killed. The dwarf was a little 
mollified by this submission, but remarked, that noth- 
ing could be more offensive to him than such an offer, 
as he considered the wild animals as his subjects, and 
never failed to avenge their destruction. He conde- 
scended further to inform him, that he was, like him- 
self, mortal, though of years far exceeding the lot of 
common humanity ; and (what I should not have had 
an idea of) that he hoped for salvation. He never, he 
added, fed on anything that had life, but lived in the 
summer on whortleberries, and in winter on nuts and 
apples, of which he had great store in the woods. 
Finally, he invited his new acquaintance to accom- 
pany him home, and partake his hospitality ; an 
offer which the youth was on the point of accepting, 
and was just going to spring across the brook (which 
if he had done, says Elizabeth, the dwarf would cer- 
tainly have torn him in pieces), when his foot was 
arrested by the voice of his companion, who thought 
he had tarried long : and on looking round again, 
'the wee brown man was tied. 1 The story adds, that 
he was imprudent enough to slight the admonition, and 
to sport over the moors on his way homewards: but 
soon after his return he fell into a lingering disorder, 
and died within the year." 



316 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Note M. 

And gaily shines the Fairy-land — 
But all is glistenimg show. — P. 165. 

No fact respecting Fairy-land seems to be better 
ascertained than the fantastic and illusory nature of 
its apparent pleasure and splendor. It has been 
already noticed in the former quotations from Dr. 
Grahame 1 s entertaining volume, and may be con- 
firmed by the following Highland tradition: "A 
woman, whose new-born child had been conveyed 
by them into their secret abodes, was also carried 
thither herself, to remain, however, only until she 
could suckle her infant. She, one day, during this 
period, observed the ShVichs busily employed in mix- 
ing various ingredients in a boiling caldron ; and, as 
soon as the composition was prepared, she remarked 
that they all carefully anointed their eyes with it, lay- 
ing the remainder aside for future use. In a moment 
when they were all absent, she also attempted to 
anoint her eyes with the precious drug, but had time 
to apply it to one eye only, when the Daoine ShP re- 
turned. But with that eye she was henceforth enabled 
to see everything as it really passed in their secret 
abodes ; she saw every object, not as she hitherto 
had done, in deceptive splendor and elegance, but in 
its genuine colors and form. The gaudy ornaments 
of the apartment were reduced to the walls of a gloomy 
cavern. Soon after, having discharged her office, 
she was dismissed to her own home. Still, however, 
she retained the faculty of seeing, with her medicated 
eye, everything that was done, anywhere in her pres- 



APPENDIX. 3 1 7 

encc, by the deceptive art of the order. One day, 
amidst a throng of people, she chanced to observe 
the ShVich) or man of peace, in whose possession she 
had left her child ; though to every other eye invisi- 
ble. Prompted by maternal affection, she inadver- 
tently accosted him, and began to inquire after the 
welfare of her child. The man of peace, astonished 
at being thus recognized by one of mortal race, de- 
manded how she had been enabled to discover him. 
Awed by the terrible frown of his countenance she 
acknowledged what she had done. He spat in her eye, 
and extinguished it forever.' 1 — Grahame's Sketches, 
pp. 116-118. It is very remarkable, that this story, 
translated by Dr. Grahame from popular Gaelic tradi- 
tion, is to be found in the " Otia Imperialia" of Ger- 
vase of Tilbury. 1 A work of great interest might be 

1 This story is still current in the moors of Staffordshire, and 
adapted by the peasantry to their own meridian. I have re- 
peatedly heard it told, exactly as here, by rustics who could 
not read. My last authority was a nailer near Cheadle. — R. 
Jam ik. sox. 

One other legend, in a similar strain, lately communicated 
by a very intelligent young lady, is given, principally because 
it furnishes an opportunity of pursuing an ingenious idea sug- 
gested by Mr. Scott, in one of his learned notes to the Lady of 
the Lake : — 

" A young man roaming one day through the forest, ob- 
served a number of persons all dressed in green, issuing from 
one of those round eminences which are commonly accounted 
fairy hills. Each of them in succession called upon a person 
by name, to fetch his horse. A caparisoned steed instantly ap- 
peared; they all mounted, and sallied forth into the regions of 
air. The young man, like Ali Baba in the Arabian Nights, 
ventured to pronounce the same name, and called for his 



3i8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

compiled upon the origin of popular fiction, and the 
transmission of similar tales from age to age, and 
from country to country. The mythology of one 
period would then appear to pass into the romance of 
the next century, and that into the nursery-tale of 
the subsequent ages. Such an investigation, while 
it went greatly to diminish our ideas of the richness of 
human invention, would also show, that these fictions, 
however wild and childish, possess such charms for 
the populace, as enable them to penetrate into coun- 
tries unconnected by manners and language, and 
having no apparent intercourse, to afford the means 
of transmission. It would carry me far beyond my 
bounds, to produce instances of this community of 
fable, among nations who never borrowed from each 
other anything intrinsically worth learning. Indeed, 
the wide diffusion of popular fictions may be compared 

horse. The steed immediately appeared; he mounted, and 
was soon joined to the fairy choir. He remained with them 
for a year, going about with them to fairs and weddings, and 
feasting, though unseen by mortal eyes, on the victuals that 
were exhibited on those occasions. They had, one day, gone 
to a wedding, where the cheer was abundant. During the 
feast, the bridegroom sneezed. The young man, according to 
the usual custom, said, ' God bless you ! ' The fairies were 
offended at the pronunciation of the sacred name, and assured 
him, that if he dared to repeat it, they would punish him. 
The bridegroom sneezed a second time. He repeated his 
blessing ; they threatened more tremendous vengeance. He 
sneezed a third time ; he blessed him as before. The fairies 
were enraged; they tumbled him from a precipice; but he 
found himself unhurt, and was restored to the society of mor- 
tals." — Dr. GRAHAME'S Sketches, second edition, pp. 255-7. 
See Note, " Fairy Superstitions," Rob Roy, N. Edit. 



APPENDIX. 3 T 9 

to the facility with which straws and feathers are dis- 
persed abroad by the wind, while valuable metals 
cannot be transported without trouble and labor. 
There lives, I believe, only one gentleman, whose 
unlimited acquaintance with this subject might enable 
him to do it justice ; I mean my friend Mr. Francis 
Douce, of the British Museum, whose usual kindness 
will. I hope, pardon my mentioning his name, while 
on a subject so closely connected with his extensive 
and curious researches. 

Note N. 

See, here all vantageless I stand, 

Artud like thyself with single brand. — P. 204. 

The duellists of former times did not always stand 
upon those punctilios respecting equality of arms, 
which are now judged essential to fair combat. It is 
true that, in formal combat in the lists, the parties 
were, by the judges of the field, put as nearly as pos- 
sible in the same circumstances. But in private duel 
it was often otherwise. In that desperate combat 
which was fought between Ouelus, a minion of Henry 
III. of France, and Antraguet, with two seconds on 
each side, from which only two persons escaped alive, 
Ouelus complained that his antagonist had over him 
the advantage of a poniard which he used in parrying, 
while his left hand, which he was forced to employ 
for the same purpose, was cruelly mangled. When 
he charged Antraguet with this odds, " Thou hast 
done wrong,** answered he, " to forget thy dagger at 
home. We are here to fight, and not to settle punc- 



3?o THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

tilios of arms." In a similar duel, however, a younger 
brother of the house of Aubayne, in Angoulesme, be- 
haved more generously on the like occasion, and at 
once threw away his dagger when his enemy chal- 
lenged it as an undue advantage. But at this time 
hardly anything can be conceived more horribly brutal 
and savage than the mode in which private quarrels 
were conducted in France. Those who were most 
jealous of the point of honor, and acquired the title 
Ruffines, did not scruple to take every advantage of 
strength, numbers, surprise, and arms, to accomplish 
their revenge. The Sieur de Brantome, to whose 
discourse on duels I am obliged for these particulars, 
gives the following account of the death and principles 
of his friend, the Baron de Vitaux : — 

" Pay oui conter a un Tireur d'armes, qui apprit a 
Millaud a en tirer, lequel s'apelloit Seigneur le Jacques 
Ferron, de la ville d'Ast, qui avoit este a moy, il fut 
despuis tue a Saincte-Basille en Gascogne, lors que 
Monsieur du Mayne Fassiegea, lui servant d'lngenieur ; 
et de malheur, je Pavois addresse audit Baron quelques 
trois mois auparavant, pour Texercer a tirer, bien 
qu'il en sceust prou ; mais il no'en fit compte ; et le 
laissant, Millaud s'en servit, et le rendit fort adroit. 
Ce Seigneur Jacques done me raconta, qu'il s'estoit 
monte sur un noyer, assez loing, pour en voir le com- 
bat, et qu'il ne vist jamais homme y aller plus brave- 
ment, ny plus resolument, ny de grace plus asseuree 
ny determinee. II commenca de marcher de cinquante 
pas vers son ennemy, relevant souvent ses moustaches 
en haut d 1 une main ; et estant a vingt pas de son 
ennemy, (non plustost,) il mit la main a Tespee qu'il 



APPENDIX. 321 

tenoit en la main, non qu'il l'eust tire"e encore ; mais 
en marchant, il fit voller le fourreau en Pair, en le 
secouant, ce qui est le beau de cela, et qui monstroit 
bien une grace de combat bien asseuree et froide, et 
nullement temeraire, corame il y en a qui tirent leurs 
espees de cinq cents pas de l'ennemy, voire de mille, 
comme pen ay veu aucuns. Ainsi mourut ce brave 
Baron, le parogon de France, qu'on nommoit tel, a. 
bien venger ses querelles, par grandes et determi- 
nees resolutions. II n'estoit pas seulement estime en 
France, mais en Italie, Espaigne, Allemaigne, en 
Boulogne et Angleterre ; et desiroient fort les Estran- 
gers, venant en France, le voir; car je l'ay veu, tant 
sa renommee volloit. II estoit fort petit de corps, 
mais fort grand de courage. Ses ennemis disoient 
qu'il ne tuoit pas bien ses gens, que par advantages 
et supercheries. Certes, je tiens de grands capitaines, 
et mesme d'ltaliens, qui ont estez d'autres fois les 
premiers vengeurs du mond, in ogni modo, disoient- 
ils, qui ont tenu cette maxime, qu'une supercherie ne 
se devoit payer que par semblable monnoye, et n'y 
alloit point la de deshonneur. 11 — Oeuvres de Bran- 
tome, Paris, 1787-8. Tome viii. p. 90-92. It may 
be necessary to inform the reader, that this paragon 
of France was the most foul assassin of his time, and 
had committed many desperate murders, chiefly by 
the assistance of his hired banditti ; from which it 
may be conceived how little the point of honor of the 
period deserved its name. I have chosen to give my 
heroes, who are indeed of an earlier period, a stronger 
tincture of the spirit of chivalry. 



322 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Note O. 

The burghers hold their sports to-day. — P. 217. 

Every burgh of Scotland of the least note, but more 
especially the considerable towns, had their solemn 
play, or festival, when feats of archery were exhibited, 
and prizes distributed to those who excelled in wrest- 
ling, hurling the bar, and the other gymnastic exer- 
cises of the period. Stirling, a usual place of royal 
residence, was not likely to be deficient in pomp upon 
such occasions, especially since James V. was very 
partial to them. His ready participation in these 
popular amusements was one cause of his acquiring 
the title of King of the Commons, or Rex Plebeiorum, 
as Leslie has latinized it. The usual prize to the best 
shooter was a silver arrow. Such a one is preserved 
at Selkirk and at Peebles. At Dumfries, a silver gun 
was substituted, and the contention transferred to 
fire-arms. The ceremony, as there performed, is the 
subject of an excellent Scottish poem, by Mr. John 
Mayne, entitled the Silver Gun, 1808, which surpasses 
the efforts of Fergusson, and comes near to those of 
Burns. 

Of James's attachment to archery, Pitscottie, the 
faithful, though rude recorder of the manners of that 
period, has given us evidence : — 

" In this year there came an embassador out of 
England, named Lord William Howard, with a 
bishop with him, with many other gentlemen, to the 
number of threescore horse, which were all able men 
and waled [picked] men for all kinds of games and 



APPENDIX. 323 

pastimes, — shooting, louping, running, wrestling, and 
casting of the stone, but they were well sayed [es- 
sayed or tried) ere they past out of Scotland, and 
that by their own provocation ; but ever they tint : 
till at last, the Queen of Scotland, the king's mother, 
favoured the English-men, because she was the King 
of England's sister ; and therefore she took an enter- 
prise of archery upon the English-men's hands, con- 
trary her son the King, and any six in Scotland that 
he would wale, either gentlemen or yeomen, that the 
English-men should shoot against them, either at 
pricks, revers, or buts, as the Scots pleased. 

u The king, hearing this of his mother, was content, 
and gart her pawn a hundred crowns, and a tun of 
wine, upon the English-men's hands ; and he incon- 
tinent laid down as much for the Scottish-men. The 
field and ground was chosen in St. Andrews, and 
three landed men and three yeomen chosen to shoot 
against the English-men, — to wit, David Wemys of 
that ilk, David Arnot of that ilk, and Mr. John Wed- 
derburn, vicar of Dundee ; the yeomen, John Thom- 
son, in Leith, Steven Taburner, with a piper, called 
Alexander Bailie ; they shot very near, and warred 
[worsted] the English-men of the enterprise, and 
wan the hundred crowns and the tun of wine, which 
macte the king very merry that his men wan the vic- 
tory.' 1 (P. 147.) 



324 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Note P. 

These drew not for their fields the sword, 
Like tenants of a feudal lord, 
Nor own' d the patriarchal claim, 

Of Chieftain in their leader's name : 
Adventurers they P. 237. 

The Scottish armies consisted chiefly of the nobility 
and barons, with their vassals, who held lands under 
them, for military service by themselves and their 
tenants. The patriarchal influence exercised by the 
heads of clans in the Highlands and Borders was of a 
different nature, and sometimes at variance with feu- 
dal principles. It flowed from the Patria Potest as, 
exercised by the chieftain as representing the origi- 
nal father of the whole name, and was often obeyed 
in contradiction to the feudal superior. James V. 
seems to have first introduced, in addition to the 
militia furnished from these sources, the service of a 
small number of mercenaries, who formed a body- 
guard, called the Foot-Band. The satirical poet, Sir 
David Lindsay (or the person who wrote the pro- 
logue to his play of the " Three Estaites ") has intro- 
duced Finlay of the Foot-Band, who, after much 
swaggering upon the stage, is at length put to flight 
by the Fool, who terrifies him by means of a sheep's 
skull upon a pole. I have rather chosen to give them 
the harsh features of the mercenary soldiers of the 
period, than of this Scottish Thraso. These partook 
of the character of the Adventurous Companions of 
Froissart or the Condottieri of Italy. 

One of the best and liveliest traits of such manners 



APPENDIX. 3 2 5 

is the last will of a leader, called Geffroy Tete Noir^ 
who having been slightly wounded in a skirmish, his 
intemperance brought on a mortal disease. When he 
found himself dying, he summoned to his bedside the 
adventurers whom he commanded, and thus addressed 
them : — 

" Fayre sirs, quod Geffray, I knowe well ye have 
alwayes served and honoured me as men ought to 
serve their soveraygne and capitayne, and I shall be 
the gladder if ye wyll to have to your capitayne one 
that is descended of my agre blode. Beholde here 
Aleyne Roux, my cosyn, and Peter his brother, who 
are men of amies and of my blode. I require you to 
make Aleyne your capitayne, and to swere too hym 
faythe, obeysaunce, love and loyalte, here in my pres- 
ence, and also to his brother : howe be it, I wyll that 
Aleyne have the soverayne charge. Sir, quod they, 
we are well content, for ye hauve ryght well chosen. 
There all the companyons made theym servyant to 
Aleyne Roux and to Peter his brother. Whan all 
that was done, then Geffray spake agayne, and sayde : 
Nowe, sirs, ye hauve obeyed to my pleasure, I canne 
you great thanke ; wherefore, sirs, I wyll ye have 
parte of that ye have holpen to conquere. I say 
unto you, that in yonder chest that ye se stande 
yonder, therin is to the some of XXX thousande 
frankes, — I wyll give them accordynge to my con- 
scyence. Wyll ye all be content to fulfil my testa- 
ment : how save ye? Sir, quod they, we be ryght 
well contente to fulfyl your commaundement. Thane 
firste, quod he, I wyll and give to the Chapell of 
Saynt George, here in this Castell, for the reparacions 



326 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

therof, a thousand and five hundrede frankes : and I 
give to my lover who hath truly served me, two 
thousand and five hundrede frankes ; and also I 
give to Aleyne Roux, your new Capitayne, four thou- 
sande frankes : also to the varlettes of my chambre 
I gyve fyve hundrede frankes. To mine offycers I 
gyve a thousand and five hundred frankes. The 
rest I gyve and bequeth as I shall show you. Ye be 
upon a thyrtie companyons all of one sorte : ye ought 
to be bretherne, and all of one alyaunce, without 
debate, ryotte, or stryfe among you. All this that 
I have shewed you ye shall fynde in yonder cheste. 
I wyll that ye departe all the resydue equally and 
truelly bitwene you thyrtie. And if ye be nat thus 
contente, but that the devylle wyll set debate by- 
twene you, than beholde yonder is a strong axe, 
breke up the coffer, and gette it who can. To those \ 
words every man ansuered and said : Sir and dere \ 
maister we are and shall be all of one accorde. Sir, 
we have so moche loved and doubted you that we 
will break no coffer nor breke no poynt of that ye 
have ordayned and commaunded." — Lord Berners's 
Froissart. 

Note O. 

And Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King. — P. 269. 

This discovery will probably remind the reader of 
the beautiful Arabian tale of // Bondocani. Yet the 
incident is not borrowed from that elegant story, but 
from Scottish tradition. James V., of whom we are 
treating, was a monarch whose good and benevolent 



APPENDIX. 3 2 7 

intentions often rendered his romantic freaks venial, 
if not respectable, since, from his anxious attention to 
the interests of the lower and most oppressed class of 
his subjects, he was. as we have seen, popularly termed 
the King of the Commons. For the purpose of see- 
ing that justice was regularly administered, and fre- 
quently from the less justifiable motive of gallantry, 
he used to traverse the vicinage of his several palaces 
in various disguises. The two excellent comic songs, 
entitled "The Gaberlunzie Man," and " We'll gae 
nae mair a roving, 1 ' are said to have been founded 
upon the success of his amorous adventures when 
travelling in the disguise of a beggar. The latter is 
perhaps the best comic ballad in any language. 

Another adventure, which had nearly cost James 
his life, is said to have taken place at the village of 
Cramond, near Edinburgh, where he had rendered 
his addresses acceptable to a pretty girl of the lower 
rank. Four or five persons, whether relations or 
lovers of his mistress is uncertain, beset the distin- 
guished monarch as he returned from his rendezvous. 
Naturally gallant, and an admirable master of his 
weapon, the king took post on the high and narrow 
bridge over the Almond river, and defended himself 
bravely with his sword. A peasant, who was thresh- 
ing in a neighboring barn, came out upon the noise, 
and whether moved by compassion or by natural 
gallantry, took the weaker side, and laid about with 
flail so effectually, as to disperse the assailants, well 
threshed, even according to the letter. He then con- 
ducted the king into his barn, where his guest re- 
quested a basin and a towel, to remove the stains of 



328 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

the broil. This being procured with difficulty James 
employed himself in learning what was the summit of 
his deliverer's earthly wishes, and found that they 
were bounded by the desire of possessing, in property, 
the farm of Braehead, upon which he labored as a 
bondsman. The lands chanced to belong to the 
crown ; and James directed him to come to the palace 
of Holyrood, and inquire for the Guidman (i.e. farmer) 
of Ballenguich, a name by which he was known in 
his excursions, and which answered to the II Bon- 
docani of Haroun Alraschid. He presented himself 
accordingly, and found, with due astonishment, that 
he had saved his monarch's life, and that he was to be 
gratified with a crown-charter of the lands of Brae- 
head, under the service of presenting a ewer, basin, \ 
and towel, for the king to wash his hands, when he 
shall happen to pass the bridge of Cramond. This 
person was ancestor of the Howiesons of Braehead 
in Mid-Lothian, a respectable family, who continue 
to hold the lands (now passed into the female line) 
under the same tenure. 1 

Another of James's frolics is thus narrated by Mr. 
Campbell from the Statistical Account : " Being once 
benighted when out a-hunting, and separated from 
his attendants, he happened to enter a cottage in the 

1 [The reader will find this story told at greater length, and 
with the addition in particular of the king being recognized, 
like the Fitz-James of the Lady of the Lake, by being the 
only person covered, in the First Series of Tales of a Grand- 
father, vol. iii. p. 37. The heir of Braehead discharged his 
duty at the banquet given to King George IV. in the Parlia- 
ment House at Edinburgh, in 1822. — Ed.] 



APPENDIX. 3-9 

midst of a moor, at the foot of the Ochil hills, near 
Alloa, where, unknown, he was kindly received. In 
order to regale their unexpected guest, the gudeman 
{i.e. landlord, farmer) desired the gudewife to fetch 
the hen that roosted nearest the cock, which is always 
the plumpest, for the stranger's supper. The king, 
highly pleased with his night's lodging and hospita- 
ble entertainment, told mine host, at parting, that he 
should be glad to return his civility, and requested 
that the first time he came to Stirling he would call at 
the castle, and enquire for the Gudeman of Ballen- 
guich. Donaldson, the landlord, did not fail to call 
on the Gudeman of Ballengnich, when his astonish- 
ment at finding that the king had been his guest 
afforded no small amusement to the merry monarch 
and his courtiers ; and, to carry on the pleasantry, 
he was thenceforth designated by James with the title 
of King of the Moors, which name and d 



esignation 



have descended from father to son ever since, and 
they have continued in possession of the identical 
spot, the property of Mr. Erskine of Mar, till very 
lately, when this gentleman, with reluctance, turned 
out the descendant and representative of the King of 
the Moors, on account of his majesty's invincible in- 
dolence, and great dislike to reform or innovation of 
any kind, although, from the spirited example of his 
neighbor tenants on the same estate, he is convinced 
similar exertion would promote his advantage." 

The author requests permission yet farther to verify 
the subject of his poem, by an extract from the 
genealogical work of Buchanan of Auchmar, upon 
Scottish surnames : — 



33° THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

"This John Buchanan of Auchmar and Arnpryor 
was afterwards termed King of Kippen, 1 upon the 
following account: King James V., a very sociable, 
debonair prince, residing at Stirling, in Buchanan of 
Arnpryor's time, carriers were very frequently passing 
along the common road, being near Arnpryor's house, 
with necessaries for the use of the king's family ; and 
he, having some extraordinary occasion, ordered 
one of these carriers to leave his load at his house, 
and he would pay him for it ; which the carrier re- 
fused to do, telling him he was the king's carrier, and 
his load for his majesty's use ; to which Arnpryor 
seemed to have small regard, compelling the carrier, 
in the end, to leave his load ; telling him, if King 
James was King of Scotland, he was King of Kipben, 
so that it was reasonable he should share with iris 
neighbor king in some of these loads, so frequently 
carried that road. The carrier representing this 
usage, and telling the story, as Arnpryor spoke it, to 
some of the king's servants, it came at length to his 
majesty's ears, who, shortly thereafter, with a few 
attendants, came to visit his neighbor king, who was 
in the mean time at dinner. King James having sent 
a servant to demand access, was denied the same by 
a tall fellow with a battleaxe, who stood porter at the 
gate, telling, there could be no access till dinner was 
over. This answer not satisfying the king, he sent 
to demand access a second time ; upon which he was 
desired by the porter to desist, otherwise he would 
find cause to repent his rudeness. His majesty find- 

1 A small district of Perthshire. 



APPENDIX. 331 

ing this method would not do, desired the porter to 
tell his master that the Goodman of Ballaneigh de- 
sired to speak with the King of Kippen. The porter 
telling Arnpryor so much, he, in all humble manner, 
came and received the king, and having entertained 
him with much sumptuousness and jollity, became so 
agreeable to King James that he allowed him to take 
so much of any provision he found carrying that road 
as he had occasion for ; and seeing he made the first 
visit, desired Arnpryor in a few days to return him a 
second to Stirling, which he performed, and con- 
tinued in very much favour with the king, always 
thereafter being termed King of Kippen while he 
lived." — Buchanan's Essay upon the Family of Bu- 
chanan. Edin. 1775, 8vo, p. 74. 

The readers of Ariosto must give credit for the 
amiable features with which he is represented, since 
he is generally considered as the prototype of Zerbino, 
the most interesting hero of the Orlando Furioso. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




